CHEYENNE -- Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal has wasted no time at all in replacing long-time attorney general Pat Crank.

Then again, he is already pretty well acquainted with the new appointee.

Freudenthal announced Monday that veteran Cheyenne-based civil-litigation attorney Bruce A. Salzburg would replace Crank as the state's top lawyer effective Sept. 1. Salzburg, like Crank and Freudenthal, is a Democrat.

Salzburg has also been a partner for 24 years in the same law firm as the Governor's brother, Steve Freudenthal. Salzburg also served under Steve Freudenthal when he was Wyoming's attorney general in the early 1980s.

The Cheyenne-based law firm of Freudenthal, Salzburg and Bonds, P.C. specializes in employment, discrimination and personal injury litigation. There the new AG built an impressive resume of successful litigation.

"Bruce ... has credibility with both state and federal judges, his fellow lawyers and his clients," Freudenthal stated. "He ... honored his promises and dealt ethically and professionally with courts, opposing counsel and his clients."

Salzburg already appears to have won the nod from Republican Sen. Tony Ross of Cheyenne, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I think he'd be a good attorney general - he's a very knowledgeable lawyer," Ross told the Casper (WY) Star-Tribune.

Crank announced his departure last Thursday after five years at the AG's helm, LNL reported recently. He will start work at Cheyenne-based law firm Speight McCue and Associates Sept. 2.

Prior to his private practice work, Salzburg worked in the attorney general's office from 1979 to 1983. He served as a senior assistant to three attorneys-general, running their offices' daily operations.