Sharon grew up in central Florida surrounded by cattle and orange groves before the arrival of Mickey Mouse.  She graduated from Yale University in 1987 and headed west for law school.  After receiving her JD from Stanford, she clerked for Justice Allen Compton on the Alaska Supreme Court.  She is admitted to practice before all Wyoming state courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Tenth, Ninth and D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals as well as several federal district courts. 

 

Sharon moved to Laramie in 2020 after practicing in Washington, DC for 25 years with a private firm, a national non-profit and the federal government.  In addition to having won numerous cases in federal district and appellate courts, she is well-versed in legislative and agency operations.

 

Most recently, she led the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Interior.  In her role at Interior, Sharon worked with states to distribute $11 billion in infrastructure funds to reclaim and repurpose abandoned mine lands.  Working with Wyoming’s Department of Environmental Quality, she secured federal approval of regulations authorizing disposal of used wind turbine blades in active coal mines.  DEQ developed the regulations in response to action taken by the Wyoming Legislature. 

 

Sharon has taught Local Government and Legislation at the University of Wyoming’s College of Law.  Sharon currently serves as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Laramie.  She was honored as the Wyoming Planning Commissioner of the year in 2023.