GOSHEN COUNTY – A significant change is taking place for Honorable Eighth Judicial District Judge Nathaniel Hibben. 

Hibben, his wife, Chelsea, and the couple’s four children, Mac, Grace, Cara and Jacob will soon be digging up roots, leaving the place the family has called home for nearly two decades and heading to Cheyenne. 

On March 28, Wyoming State Governor, Mark Gordon, announced Hibben had been appointed to the First Judicial District of Laramie County. He will fill the district court judge vacancy of Judge Steven Sharpe. Judge Hibben’s appointment is effective May 9, 2025. 

Hibben currently serves as a judge in Wyoming’s Eighth Judicial District, covering multiple county judicial issues. However, throughout his 16 years in the community, Hibben spent time in private law practice, was a Torrington Municipal Court Judge, public defender, and Goshen County Deputy District Attorney. Each experience in Goshen County helped to provide not only an opportunity for professional growth but also a small-town lifestyle rich in friendship.

Hibben grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and he received a Bachelor of Science in history from Iowa State University. He graduated cum laude from Liberty University of Law in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Although Hibben expressed gratitude and honor relating to his recent appointment, there is also a bit of sadness as one door closes. In a community like Goshen County, everyone knows your name and the tight-knit structure provided a sense of “home” for Hibben and his family. 

“It’s one of the wonderful things about living where we do,” Hibben said. “It’s one of the things we’re going to miss.” 

According to the judge, staying in Goshen County wasn’t the original plan. But after falling in love with the community, the Hibbens decided to stick around. 

“I started working for two district judges in this corner of the state. The idea was that we would stay for a couple of years, but very quickly we just, we just had so many friends,” Hibben said. “Then I started practicing law and it just became home. That’s the very short story. It just became home.”

Hibben was appointed as the Eighth Judicial District of Goshen County in 2019.

“It’s tough. This is where we started a family. It’s where we raised our family,” Hibben explained. “In many ways, Goshen County, even though neither my wife nor I went to high school here, it feels like home. It is, by far, the longest that either of us ever lived in any one place. Both of us grew up moving around a little bit because of our dads’ jobs.”

“We’re just going to miss all of our friends and the connection and the home that we have here in Goshen County. The good news is we are only 80 miles away so we will be back,” he noted. “We’re looking forward to seeing old friends in Cheyenne.”

Hibben also explained he would miss being a part of the Torrington Rotary Club and the friendships built in fellowship and he also added the Goshen County Schools will be missed as well. 

“We will miss school. Our kids have thrived and loved being in Goshen County Schools. We will miss our church family. We miss all the youth sports and youth dance. Community theater and all the stuff that we do,” Hibben explained. “Just going to the grocery store and seeing people you know. We will miss all of those things.”

Looking forward, Hibben expressed there are professional opportunities he is looking forward to. 

“The district court and then specifically in Cheyenne, the state capital. I’m excited about some of those additional opportunities. That’s the big source of excitement, at least the profession,” Hibben said. 

Hibben’s new appointment is of an indefinite term. 

“District judges are retained for six-year terms so every six years, you’re on a retention vote,” Hibben said. 

“But we’ll be back. We’ll be back. We have so many committed people in different places and different roles that truly care about this place and the people here,” he explained. “And they want to do good work. They want to be helpful. They want to serve. They want to accept help when they need it – just so many good people in Goshen County.”

Becoming a district court judge wasn’t always the plan, Hibben explained.

“If I look back to law school days, there’s a healthy push in law school to get talented people into what we might traditionally think of as prestige-type positions – law firms in big cities, high-level government work, high-level appellate work, those sorts of things. It can be easy to follow that track that is established out there. But very quickly, no, my goal was not – I never once have set out and said my goal is to do judicial work,” Hibben said. “But, very quickly, I discovered that I love the courtroom. I have always loved the courtroom. In a way, I don’t even think I understood when I was in law school how much I loved or would ultimately love being in the courtroom.”

Throughout Hibben’s career in Goshen County, he has been able to gain experience but more importantly, he has been able to form long-lasting connections in the community.

“The other part of practicing in county seat Wyoming that I loved was helping clients solve problems and to build ongoing relationships with them on a variety of different things. So, while the broader legal world might emphasize specialization, that is not the direction that a person would go here in Goshen County. Because that’s not the work. You need to be able to help people on a will or a trust or a guardianship. Be able to help someone on a DUI or represent someone who’s charged with a crime or help someone in a custody case or help a business, help someone form a business, help a bank work through a tough creditor issue, help a multi-generation farm or ranch figure out a way to keep the place together for the next generation,” Hibben explained. “There’s tremendous reward in that for a lawyer because you are, you’re forming those relationships. You can give meaningful advice to those people. It’s not a one-off type of situation where you’re going to see them once and then never again. It’s the opposite.”

“You are going to form a long-term relationship that’s based on knowledge of what is in the best interest of the client, what they’re trying to accomplish. It’s based on trust. It’s based on the desire to help create something that makes the world better. Now, that experience is very useful to me as a judge. It helps me first be practical. It helps me have an understanding of nuances or issues that might be even under the surface in a case. It helps me see the law in, in a way that doesn’t just see it as a way to achieve a particular goal, but instead helps me, and hopefully I can help others, see the law as an ideal, as a standard, as a goal that all of us are trying to live according to – these are big picture things. The general experience that I have helps me with those things.”

Hibben plans to take his knowledge with him to Cheyenne noting he plans on hearing the same types of cases he heard in Goshen County. 

“There’s obviously more of them. There are some important differences. Laramie County, the district court in Laramie County is a busy court. It also sees a number of cases that all district courts see, but more of them. Things like some administrative appeals involving state litigation. Some state litigation ordinates in Cheyenne, simply because it’s the state capital,” Hibben said. “It can also be heard elsewhere, but it’s there. Some of the constitutional issues that come up could be heard in other district courts but are heard out of that court. So, I will try to bring a continuation of what the retiring judge, his name is Judge Sharpe. I have big shoes to fill. He is a wonderful judge. To try to continue the things that he has done, to try to bring my own experience to that, to try to bring the knowledge that I have and keep those standards on.”

With changes on the horizon, Hibben expressed a valuable lesson on personal and professional growth which he captured from retired Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Keith Kautz. 

“One of my mentors said, this was Justice Kautz, Judge Kautz here. I interviewed him for an article a year and a half ago or so and then wrote an article when he retired. We were talking about change. He told me that he had learned a rule recently. It’s an ecological rule. The rule is that for any organism to thrive, for any person to thrive, the rate of learning has to be equal to or greater than the rate of change,” Hibben said. “I think about that, that one of the lessons of life is that change is constant. It’s going to happen. The way that we help meet that change is by having a desire ourselves to continue to learn and grow. That’s the way that we can continue to thrive. He was using it to talk about himself, even at retirement, how excited he was to still learn.”

In closing, Hibben expressed southeast Wyoming has been the home of many great legal professionals and leaders throughout the years. Although he doesn’t consider himself to fit into their category of greatness, he expresses a deep gratitude and honor to walk in their mighty footsteps. 

“We have wonderful judges in the eighth district. We really do. We have been very lucky. There are nine judicial districts in the state, we are the eighth district. We have the fewest judges. We have the fewest people and the fewest lawyers in the eighth district. But Goshen County in southeast Wyoming has an amazing history of having extraordinary judges,” Hibben said. “Just run through the list of some of the judges that have come out of this corner of the state,” he said listing off the names of fellow professionals he felt were exceptional. “So, a really impressive tradition of good lawyers, good judges, good examples.”

“There’s tremendous honor to continue that kind of tradition and try to do so,” Hibben said. 

It’s been said, it takes a small town to keep you humble and for Honorable Judge Nathaniel Hibben, Torrington has been just the place.

It isn’t goodbye, it’s just see you later.