Dona Playton
Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of Domestic Violence Legal Assistance Project
B.S., University of Wyoming (1989)
J.D., University of Wyoming (1993)
dplayton@uwyo.edu • (307) 766-3664 • 103 UW Office Annex

Office Hours:
By appointment.

Adjunct Professor Dona Playton has been practicing family law and advocating for women and their children for over fourteen years.  She is a graduate of the University of Wyoming College of Law where she received the Outstanding Woman Law Graduate award from the National Association of Women Lawyers.  She is the Director of the Domestic Violence Legal Assistance Project, a legal clinic established in 2002 that allows third-year law students to represent low income victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.  She also directs the ASUW Student Legal Services Program, a program dedicated to providing civil litigation support to qualifying University of Wyoming students.  She has been an adjunct professor at the law school and an attorney with the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault for the past nine years.

She recently authored a benchbook on domestic violence as a consultant for the Wyoming Supreme Court and assisted with the drafting of standards for Guardians ad litem in child abuse and neglect cases.  In addition, as a member of the Governor's Domestic Violence Elimination (DoVE) Council, she assisted with the research and drafting of standards for batterer intervention programs in Wyoming and recently revised a Women's Law Handbook for the Wyoming Business Council's Commission on Women's Issues.  In 2001 and 2002, Dona served as an independent consultant with the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence developing a case scenario and fact pattern, as well as other litigation information and conference facilitation packets for legal strategies discussions, used in conjunction with a National Civil Law Institute in Boston, Massachusetts in October/November, 2001 and in Tucson, Arizona in January, 2002.  She also conducted a workshop on Advocating for Women with Disabilities to the national audience (April, 2001 - January, 2002).  As part of the Citizen's Access to Courts Committee, Dona was instrumental in the drafting of the pro se family law packets currently posted on the Wyoming Supreme Court website and most recently, she was appointed to a national ad hoc advisory committee for Mothers' and Caregivers' Economic Rights.

Teaching:
Children and the Law, Domestic Violence, and Family Law

Publications:

Publications

Playton, D. & Obrecht, Stacy (2007).  High Times in Wyoming: Reflecting the State's Values by Eliminating Barriers and Creating Opportunities for Women in the Equality State, Wyoming Law Review, Vol. 7, Number 2 (2007).

Playton, D. (2004).  Wyoming Domestic Violence Benchbook: A Practical and Comprehensive Source of Information and Law, Wyoming Supreme Court, Wyoming Attorney General's Office, Division of Victim Services.

Playton, D. (2002).  Domestic Abuse of the Elderly, Wyoming Lawyer, October 23, 2002.

Affiliations, Associations, Consultation:

Adjunct Professor Playton is licensed in Wyoming and Colorado, and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Wyoming Trial Lawyer's Association, the Women's Law Caucus, and the 2008 Leadership Wyoming class.  She is also an Attorney for the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

Press releases:

• 7/26/2007 - Local Residents Selected for New Leadership Wyoming Class
• 10/20/2000 - This Week in Laramie for October 22 - 28
• 10/18/2000 - Domestic Violence Awareness Week
• 10/16/2000 - UW Calendar for October 20 - 26