Sara S. Berg

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...

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 ...

Aaron advises individuals, startups, tech and telecommunications companies, banks, contractors, and businesses on a wide-variety of matters. With several years in private practice in Seattle and Missoula, and as the former Vice President and General Counsel of a leading technology / communications service provider operating in 16+ states in the greater Pacific Northwest, Aaron has the requisite knowledge and experience to help you and to help your business grow, minimize risk, improve operati...

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...

Peter was born in Trondheim, Norway in 1963. After immigrating to United States as a child, he lived in New York. His family finally settled in Seattle, Washington, where he attended the University of Washington, receiving a degree in History in 1985. He received his law degree from Willamette University in 1989 and worked in the Civil Trial Division of the Oregon Department of Justice. As a prosecuting attorney in Seattle for six years, Peter prosecuted approximately 50 jury trials along wit...

Michael Hekman is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Real Estate Law. Michael, who practices law in Missoula, Montana, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Michael is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

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 ...

Tessa A. Keller is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Employment Law - Management. Tessa A., who practices law in Missoula, Montana, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Tessa A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

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...

Kevin, who was raised in Butte, focuses his practice on medical malpractice defense, as well as commercial, insurance, and media law litigation. Kevin received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1987 from the University of Montana, where he served as a reporter and later as the editor of the student newspaper. After graduation, he worked as a news reporter for more than four years, writing about police and legal issues for newspapers in Texas and Montana. He later returned to Missoula...