Matthew B. "Matt" Hayhurst

Brad grew up in Montana. He left the state to play college baseball in Florida and attend the United States Naval Academy. After graduating from the University of Montana law school with honors in 1977 he began private practice in Missoula. Since that time he has had a varied state wide practice involving insurance related litigation, specializing in insurance bad faith, personal injury, professional negligence and workers’ compensation law. Brad has handled more than 60 appeals before ...

Leah was born and raised in Whitefish, Montana. She attended Boston College and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a minor in Hispanic Studies. Upon graduation, Leah returned to Montana and worked as a compliance specialist at a local credit union. Leah then attended law school at the University of Montana School of Law. While in law school, Leah worked at GLR as a legal intern, as a teacher’s assistant and tutor for fellow law students, an...

Alan’s primary practice focus is land use, zoning, real estate and local government law with a particular emphasis on development permitting and related transactions. Alan is a former land use planner for Montana local governments, who combines his professional planning background with his work in land use law to provide clients with a unique blend of practical skills and legal analysis. He is frequently called upon to provide advice to private and government sector clients and has serv...

Robert J. Phillips has been practicing since 1978 in areas of insurance defense or all kinds, including coverage opinions, coverage litigation and bad faith defense. He has tried numerous civil jury trials in various areas, including automobile, trucking, railroad, products liability, professional liability, construction defect and insurance bad faith, in State, Federal and Tribal courts. He has been lead counsel in many of the leading cases in Montana insurance law before the Montana Supreme...

Randy concentrates his practice in insurance law, bad faith defense and general negligence litigation, including construction defect cases and class actions. He has successfully defended negligence and insurance bad faith cases through trial and on appeal. His clients include both national and regional corporations as well as many Montana individuals and businesses. He has been recognized in Chambers USA: Leading Lawyers in Business (Commercial Litigation) and by Best Lawyers in America. His ...

Christian advises clients on real estate transactions, laws relating to land conservation and tax-exempt organizations, and related areas. He specializes in conservation easement transactions. Before co-founding Neilson, Swanson, Dietrich, Smith, PLLC, Christian served as General Counsel for the Montana Land Reliance, one of the nation's preeminent land trusts. In addition to the interpretation and defense of a million-plus-acre conservation easement portfolio at MLR, he successfully advised ...

Shane Reely is a fourth-generation Montanan. He graduated with honors in 1994 from the University of Montana School of Law. After passing the Montana bar exam, he obtained a Master’s Degree in Tax (LL.M.) in 1995 from the University of Florida College of Law. Soon after, Shane began working for the Crowley Law Firm in Billings where his primary focus was on tax-exempt entities as well as general commercial transaction work, such as preparing purchase agreements, lease agreements, and ot...

Gary Kalkstein is a Partner in our Missoula office and focuses his practice on medical malpractice and health care matters. For the last 35 years, Gary has defended a wide range of health care clients, including physicians, hospitals, clinics, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, professional counselors, and other health care providers in medical negligence actions and professional licensing disputes throughout the State of Montana. He routinely appears before the Montana Medical Legal ...

Elizabeth A. Kaleva is an attorney in Missoula, Montana, focusing her practice on representation of public and private school districts throughout the state of Montana, as well as the Montana High School Association. Bea graduated from Boston College in 1991, and the University of Montana School of Law in 1995. After clerking for a year, Bea joined the Montana School Boards Association as a staff attorney. She rose to the General Counsel position and remained with the MTSBA until 2003, when s...

Liz’s practice focuses on medical malpractice and personal injury defense. She represents a wide variety of health care clients, including physicians, hospitals, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, professional counselors, and other health care providers in medical negligence actions, HIPAA complaints, and professional licensing disputes. She also represents companies in products liability claims involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and asbestos exposure. Liz routinely app...