Montana Lawyer August/September 2025

AWARD WINNERS

Celebrating Excellence: 2025 State Bar of Montana Award Recipients

The State Bar of Montana has announced the recipients of its 2025 Annual Awards, honoring attorneys and jurists whose contributions to the law, public service, and the legal profes sion exemplify the highest standards of excellence. The awards, selected each year by the Bar’s Past Presidents Committee, will be formally presented during the 2025 State Bar of Montana Annual Meeting.

This year’s honorees represent a breadth of service — from the bench to public leadership to innovative pro bono advocacy. “ These awards reflect the very best of our profession, ” said Toni Tease, President, State Bar of Montana. “ From courtroom leadership to pro bono and public service, each nominee embod ies the values of professionalism, service, and integrity that strengthen both our Bar and the communities we serve. ” believed the court completed its overall workload in a timely manner. “ He brought a wealth of experience in the law to the position of Chief Justice, and all Montanans are better for it ,” recalls colleague Justice Jim Rice. “ His years in the trial trenches — including cases he and I tried against each other over 40 years ago — gave him an on-the-ground understanding of how laws and the judicial system were designed to work, which led him to render practical interpretations that improved the process. ” McGrath also advocated for continued funding for addi tional district court judgeships to address Montana’s growing caseloads and worked with the Legislature to secure resources for courthouse security. McGrath was also a mentor to many lawyers during his years in public service. Two of his former state solicitors, Brian Morris and Anthony Johnstone, have gone on to serve on the federal trial and appellate benches, while others hold key roles across state and local government. “ If I’ve learned anything over the past 50 years, it’s that we are in difficult times right now, ” McGrath said. “ It’s important for the legal profession to continue to maintain the highest degrees of professionalism and integrity.” McGrath is the second Montana Supreme Court justice to win the Jameson Award, joining the late Hon. John C. “Skeff” Sheehy.

William J. Jameson Award – Mike McGrath

The Bar’s most prestigious honor, the William J. Jameson Award, will be pre sented to former Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath. Throughout his career — as Lewis & Clark County Attorney, Montana Attorney General, and Chief Justice — McGrath consistently championed access to the courts and, as chief justice, implemented measures to make the judiciary more efficient.

Jameson and McGrath not only share their time on the bench as career hallmarks, but also similar roots in Butte. While Jameson attended the University of Montana School of Law and McGrath earned his J.D. at Gonzaga University, each received the Gonzaga Law Medal — Jameson in 1970 and McGrath in 2021. Early in his career, McGrath served as a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellow in Reno, Nevada, where he worked directly in legal aid, providing services to underserved communities in a classic access-to-justice role. When McGrath joined the Supreme Court in 2008, fol lowing eight years as Montana’s attorney general, he intro duced performance measures to reduce backlogs and improve transparency, including a court-user satisfaction survey. The most recent poll, conducted between 2022 and 2024 — his final years as chief — found that 87% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the court’s performance, and 89%

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