ELAINE WELLE

PROFESSOR OF LAW

Office: 212 College of Law Building
Telephone: 307-766-3516
Email address: eaw@uwyo.edu

Elaine Welle has been a member of the University of Wyoming College of Law faculty since 1993. Professor Welle teaches commercial law courses, including Contracts, Commercial Paper, Creditors’ Rights and Secured Transactions. In addition, she has taught courses in securities regulations and seminars on advanced business law topics. A dedicated classroom teacher, Professor Welle is the recipient of the University of Wyoming’s 1998 John P. Ellbogen Meritorious Teaching Award and was honored as Outstanding Faculty Member by the UW College of Law graduating classes of 2003, 2001, 1999 and 1996.

While on sabbatical during the 2001-2002 academic year, Professor Welle taught securities regulation and commercial law courses in Beijing, China as a visiting professor in a Master of Laws Program jointly sponsored by Temple University School of Law and China University of Political Science and Law. The Master of Laws Program educates Chinese judges, government officials, law professors and lawyers in U.S. and international law with an emphasis on commercial law topics pertinent to China’s emerging economy.

Professor Welle’s scholarship and current works for publication focus on commercial, corporate and securities law topics. Professor Welle has served as advisor, consultant and expert witness for the United States Attorney, the Colorado Securities Commission and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Since 1998, she has served as a public arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

Prior to commencing her academic career, Professor Welle was a partner and associate with the law firm of Holland & Hart in Denver, Colorado. Through her practice, Professor Welle acquired significant practical experience in such areas as mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, public and private offerings of securities, bank financings and the formation of business entities. She also served as securities counsel for many publicly-traded companies. During that period, Professor Welle was a Lecturer of Law at the University of Denver College of Law where she taught courses in securities regulation.

Professor Welle graduated with honors from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1986. While a student at the University of Arizona, she was awarded membership in the Order of the Coif, and served as an editor of the Arizona Law Review.

Before beginning her legal career, Professor Welle worked for six years in a variety of managerial and staff positions dealing with financial, product and strategic planning in the telecommunications industry. In 1981, she earned a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Colorado. Professor Welle received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, with distinction, from the University of Colorado in 1977.

EDUCATION

B.A., University of Colorado (1977), With Distinction
M.B.A., University of Colorado (1981)
J.D., University of Arizona (1986), With High Distinction and Order of the Coif

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

When Are Limited Liability Partnership Interests Securities?, 27 The Journal of Corporation Law 63 (2001)

An Introduction to Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, 1 Wyoming Law Review 555 (2001)

Freedom of Contract and the Securities Laws: Opting Out of Securities Regulation by Private Agreement,
56 Washington and Lee Law Review 519 (1999)

Opting Out of Public Provision: Constraints and Policy Considerations, 73 Denver University Law Review 1221 (1996) (part of a symposium issue on The New Private Law: Perspectives on the Current Trend Toward Private Governance)

Limited Liability Company Interests as Securities: Planning and Drafting Strategies Related to Securities Law Considerations, 4 Limited Liability Company Reporter 96-505 (Sept./Oct. 1996) and 4 Limited Liability Company Reporter 96-610 (Nov./Dec. 1996)(an edited and updated version of an article that appeared in the Land and Water Law Review)

Limited Liability Company Interests As Securities: An Analysis of Federal and State Actions Against Limited Liability Companies Under the Securities Laws, 73 Denver University Law Review 425 (1996), edited and updated tables from the article were reprinted in 4 Limited Liability Company Reporter 96-615 (Nov./Dec. 1996), tables from the article were also reprinted in William D. Bagley & Philip P. Whynott, The Limited Liability Company 2:101 (Rev. 4, 6/96) (published by James Publishing, Inc.)

Limited Liability Company Interests as Securities: Planning and Drafting Strategies Related to Securities Law Considerations, 31 Land and Water Law Review 153 (1996)

Chapter 8, "Amendment of Articles of Incorporation" in Colorado Corporation Law & Practice, 219-34 (J. Robert Brown, Jr. ed. 1990) (published by Prentice Hall)

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

Presenter, Wyoming Conference of Special Court Judges, 2003 Annual Training Seminar, “Debtors’ and Creditors’ Rights: Wyoming State Collection Remedies,” Laramie, Wyoming, May 22, 2003.

Panelist, 2003 Martin Luther King, Jr. Days of Dialogue, “Civil Discourse and Classroom Climate,” sponsored by the University of Wyoming’s Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, January 24, 2003.

Small Group Discussion Facilitator, University of Wyoming New Faculty and Lecturer Orientation 2001, “The Road to Excellence,” August 29-30, 2001, Teaching Session IV, August 30, 2001, “Excellence in Action.”

Presenter and Panelist, Introduction to Article 9, “It’s a Brand New Ballgame—Maybe the Third Inning,” a full-day workshop sponsored by the Wyoming Bankers Association, Casper, Wyoming, August 24, 2001.

Presenter, Continuing Legal Education Program, sponsored by the University of Wyoming College of Law and the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office, Laramie, Wyoming, May 16, 2001, live compressed video broadcast to 11 other locations in Wyoming, "The New Revised Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code."

Moderator, Plain Talk (About Teaching) Series, sponsored by the University of Wyoming Center for Teaching Excellence, Laramie, Wyoming, March 22, 2000, "Privacy, Confidentiality, and Ownership of Student Work."

Moderator, 9th Annual Colloquium on Teaching Excellence, Tools for Success in Teaching and Learning, sponsored by the University of Wyoming Center for Teaching Excellence, Laramie, Wyoming, May 17-18, 1999, "Adventures in Problem-Based Learning."

Presenter, Dealing with Analysts and the Press, sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Executive Enterprises, San Francisco, California, May 18-19, 1998, "MD&A: How Much is Enough?"

Co-Presenter, Dealing with Analysts and the Press, sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Executive Enterprises, San Francisco, California, May 18-19, 1998, "Ins and Outs of Electronic Dissemination: Conference Calls and the Internet."

Presenter, Laramie County Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education Program, Cheyenne, Wyoming, October 17, 1996, "Legal Road Hazards on the Information Highway."

Panelist, Symposium on "The New Private Law: Perspectives on the Current Trend Toward Private Governance," sponsored by the University of Denver College of Law, Denver, Colorado, March 1-2, 1996, "Opting Out of Public Provision."

Presenter, 40th Corporate Accounting and Financial Reporting Institute, Washington, D.C., May 18-19, 1994, "Dealing with Analysts and the Press."