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Wyoming State Bar votes to remove hourly‑rate question from 2025 membership survey
Summary
Board members voted to remove the hourly‑rate question from the 2025 Bar Member Survey after concerns that a low response rate and respondent skew had led to misuse of the question in a recent court decision.
At its April 11 meeting in Sheridan, the Wyoming State Bar Board voted to remove the hourly‑rate question from the 2025 Bar Member Survey following concerns that prior survey data had been misapplied.
Mark W. Gifford told the Board that the 2023 survey’s hourly‑rate question had a 23% response rate and a high share of government‑employer respondents, and that a recent Wyoming Supreme Court opinion had cited the 2023 survey in supporting the reasonableness of a $250 hourly rate. Gifford said the specific survey item may be susceptible to misuse. After discussion about methodology and risks, Commissioner Kevin K. Kessner moved to remove the question; Past President Anna M. Reeves Olson seconded the motion, which carried.
The Board also discussed survey timing and member fatigue. Executive Director Sharon Wilkinson said the Bar conducts the member survey in odd‑numbered years to support the June strategic planning session; the Board approved removing the hourly‑rate question and did not adopt any immediate replacement metric at the meeting.
Why this matters: the Bar Member Survey informs internal planning and has appeared in external proceedings; poor methodology or low response rates can create misleading benchmarks.
Next steps: the Board requested staff continue work on a robust, methodologically sound survey and to report back at the next meeting.
