M. Kristeen Hand Partner
Kristeen was born and raised in Wyoming. She graduated from the University of Wyoming with an undergraduate degree in zoology/physiology. After college, she spent two years in Washington, D.C. as an aide to a United States Senator. She is a 2001 honor graduate of the University of Wyoming College of Law. Prior to joining the Spence Law Firm in 2003, she served as a law clerk at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Natrona County District Court of Wyoming. She became a partner at The Spence Law Firm in 2011.
Since joining the firm, Kristeen has successfully represented clients injured or killed while working for big industries, including drilling rigs, workover rigs, industrial concrete, refineries, gas compressor stations, salt water disposal sites, construction sites, saw mills, pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and the United States government. She has won multi-million-dollar settlements for clients catastrophically injured or killed in car, semi-truck, and passenger bus collisions. She also successfully prosecutes cases involving medical negligence and defamation.
Case Highlights
Kristeen has an unparalleled dedication to seeking justice for her clients. Her tenacity to discover the truth in complex factual situations has been her professional trademark. She settled a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Halliburton after her personal investigation into hundreds of thousands of documents revealed a systematic under-reporting of the number of hours driven by commercial drivers, resulting in driver fatigue, and ultimately, the death of her clients’ brother.
She represented the family of a twenty-six year old man who died by electrocution while working for a drilling company in the Jonah Field in southwest Wyoming. Government investigators were unable to determine how the electrocution happened. During Kristeen’s investigation into the man’s death, she personally drove hundreds of miles to interview witnesses, piece together conflicting stories, and ultimately, she uncovered evidence that supervisors of the rig conspired to cover up their fault in the young man’s death. The case settled soon thereafter and was reported in the New York Times.
Kristeen recently tried a medical malpractice case in Wyoming where the jury found the defendant doctor liable for her client’s death. She won a multimillion-dollar settlement for a 19 year-old man hit by a semi-truck in North Dakota, which rendered him severely brain injured. She also recently won a settlement on behalf of a man burned by an explosion at a gas compressor station in Wyoming. During the 2020 shutdown, Kristeen won a settlement for a young woman against the United States for medial practice at a federally funded clinic.
Currently, she represents clients in Wyoming and New Mexico in medical malpractice actions, as well as clients inured in motor vehicle accidents.
Kristeen’s
affiliations
- American Association for Justice – Past Board of Governors
- Graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College
- Wyoming Trial Lawyers’ Association (Past Board Member)
- Federal Bar Association (Wyoming Chapter Past-President)
- Appointed member of the Wyoming State Bar’s Character and Fitness Committee
- Board of Directors of Lawyers & Advocates for Wyoming, a non-profit public interest law firm
- Board of Directors for Raising Readers in Wyoming, a non-profit charitable organization
Practice
locations
- State of Wyoming
- United States District Court – Wyoming and North Dakota
- United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
Meet with us.
If you are struggling with a serious injury, or are fighting against seemingly impossible odds against big corporations, insurance companies or the government, call us to speak with our team of trial lawyers who will fight for you. We take no fee unless we earn it by winning your case.