Cox retires from Boone Karlberg to focus on fire defense firm
After 40 successful years with Boone Karlberg and serving the community, Missoula attorney Randy Cox will begin a retirement from the active practice of law. Cox will continue working as Executive Vice-President and General Counsel of the Bozeman-based company Wildfire Defense Systems Inc., which he founded with David Torgerson. WDS is the largest company in the United States providing qualified insurance resources devoted to wildfire mitigation in evacuation zones. It operates in 20 states and employs over 350 people.
Throughout his career, Randy cultivated a statewide litigation practice focusing on defense of claims relating to toxic exposure, product liability, professional negligence, complex commercial litigation and railroad litigation. He also handled numerous plaintiff cases, particularly commercial disputes. Randy has briefed and argued dozens of cases in the Montana Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and has tried dozens of cases in federal and state courthouses across Montana.
In addition to a busy litigation practice, Randy held membership and leadership positions with numerous legal organizations, including invitation-only memberships in the American Board of Trial Advocates, International Society of Barristers and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Cox served on the Supreme Court Advisory Commission on Rules of Civil and Appellate Procedure and was heavily involved in the last major revision of those rules. Randy also served 25 years, including 12 as chair, of the Montana Board of Bar Examiners. Randy has been an adjunct professor at the University of Montana Law School, has guest lectured on trial practice topics, coached several competition trial teams and taught at the Advanced Trial Advocacy School for several years. He has given presentations, including trial skills demonstrations, at more than 75 continuing legal education programs across Montana, the United States and Canada, including roles as trial counsel in ABOTA-sponsored Masters in Trial programs.
Along with his wife, Theresa, Cox has been a longtime supporter of Missoula community projects, including A Carousel for Missoula, Dragon Hollow Play Area, Watson Children’s Center, Missoula Food Bank, YMCA, First United Methodist Church and a number of other projects.
Firm members say they will miss working with Cox on a daily basis. In addition to his extensive knowledge of the law, Randy has imparted to his partners and students his enthusiasm for providing mentoring and skills development, earning the informal title “Trial Dad.” |
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Randy Cox
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Getty joins MLSA as Health Justice Partnership attorney
Brent Getty joined Montana Legal Services in the fall of 2021 after a 14-year career with the Montana Office of the Public Defender, including nine years as a public defender in the Kalispell office and five years as the deputy training coordinator. He also has experience as an appellate lawyer, an insurance regulator, and a professional fundraiser.
Getty received a Bachelor of Science Degree in economics and a law degree from the University of Kansas. He lives in Missoula with his wife, their two dogs, and two cats.
Getty serves as an attorney with the Montana Health Justice Partnership, a collaboration between MLSA, the Montana Primary Care Association, and local community health clinics located throughout Montana. His primary focus is on Western and north-central Montana, working to provide legal assistance to patients in some of Montana’s most vulnerable communities to solve legal issues that impact those patients’ health – such as unsafe housing, family violence, and denial of earned benefits.
In addition to providing direct client representation, Getty will bring his years of training expertise to educate community health clinic staff and the larger legal community to spot health harming legal needs and refer those cases to MLSA. |
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Brent Getty
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Barber joins MLSA as Domestic Violence staff attorney
Joy Barber graduated with high honors from the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana, earning her J.D. and a certificate in American Indian Law. She also has an M.A. in English Studies from Western Washington University and a B.A. in English Writing from Pacific Lutheran University.
Prior to joining MLSA, Barber clerked for the Honorable Mike McGrath, chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court. She was honored for her work in the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic during law school and also served as a research assistant for the Rural Justice Initiative, investigating pretrial release and detention procedures.
Barber previously served with MLSA as a Justice for Montanans (JFM) AmeriCorps at the Yellowstone County Self-Help Law Center.
Before JFM inspired her to pursue a legal career, Barber taught college writing and completed a prior year of service in Seattle’s Literacy AmeriCorps teaching English to speakers of other languages and citizenship classes.
Barber grew up in Anaconda and is a Montana history fan. She loves art and local symphony and theater performances. She is a lifelong runner and is forever chasing the writer’s dream — meaning she always wishes she spent more of her free time writing fiction and lyric essays. |
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Joy Barber
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Oomens joins Helena’s Doney Crowley P.C. law firm
Doney Crowley P.C. is pleased to announce that Terisa M. Oomens has joined the firm in Helena as an associate attorney.
Oomens attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and received her Bachelor of Science in Reclamation, Environment and Conservation with minors in Sustainable and Renewable Energy Sources, Environmental Science, and Social and Environmental Justice. She then moved to Laramie, Wyoming to simultaneously obtain her Master of Arts in Environment and Natural Resources degree and a Juris Doctor. Prior to joining Doney Crowley, Oomens was an associate attorney at the MacPherson & Thompson, LLC law firm in Rawlins, Wyoming. She is admitted to practice in both Montana and Wyoming.
While growing up, Oomens moved 16 times and lived in 6 different states. With her new role at Doney Crowley PC, she is delighted to plant roots in beautiful Helena. In her free time, Oomens enjoys exploring Montana with her husband, Jake, their son, and their three pointers. |
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Terisa Oomens
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Johnston named partner at Joyce & MacDonald, PLLP
Joyce & MacDonald, PLLP, is pleased to announce that Saidee M. Johnston has been named a partner of the personal injury law firm as of Jan. 1, 2022.
Johnston, a 2009 Butte Central graduate, continued her education at the University of Montana where she graduated with honors in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies. In 2015, she graduated from the University of Montana School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree. She has been practicing at Joyce & MacDonald since passing the Montana bar exam.
Johnston and her husband, Clay McQueary, are excited to be in Butte raising their 1-year-old son, Owen.
Johnston and the legal team at Joyce & MacDonald, PLLP represent those who have been injured, abused, or hurt in any way due to the fault of someone else. They take pride in getting fair treatment and compensation for their clients.
Johnston can be reached at 406-723-8700 or by appointment at her office located on the main floor of the historic Finlen Hotel at 100 E. Broadway in uptown Butte. |
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Saidee Johnston
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