Candidate qualifications

A recent story in the Clark Fork Chronicle called into question Marcia Boris’ qualification for the office of Mineral County Attorney.  If the reporter of that story had asked me if Marcia was qualified, my answer would have been “yes, most definitely” on two bases:

1.  She meets the statutory qualification as interpreted by the Montana Supreme Court, and

2.  She has the intelligence, skills and knowledge needed to perform the duties of the office.

Retired Chief Justice Gray’s quoted comments in the story, though a candid representation of her personal sincere beliefs, do not reflect the case law interpreting the qualification statute.  The decision of the majority of the Montana Supreme Court is clear.   Were there any doubt, I am sure Marcia’s opponent would have long ago filed his challenge before the district court.

Back in 1975 when the statute in question was passed, the law curriculum taught law students to “think like lawyers”.  Result: they knew a lot of case law but knew little about how to serve their clients. Under the innovative guidance of then-Dean, Jack Mudd in the 1980’s, the curriculum was revised to impart actual practical legal practice skills to students.  Put another way: now when a person graduates from UM Law School, they actually know how to try a case, draft a contract, etc, rather than just know “how a lawyer should think” about problems.  UM Law students now learn in law school what they used to learn in their first three to five years of practice.

Prior to law school, Marcia worked as my paralegal for about 7 years.  In that capacity she assisted me with jury trials, depositions, analysis of volumes of raw records and produced documents, interaction with clients, and dealing with the challenges of “electronic” courtrooms.   Her experiences supporting my caseload motivated her to become a lawyer.

While she was working at our firm full time, she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Montana, and then was accepted to the law school.  It was during law school that she sought practical courtroom experience that could be found at the Missoula County Attorney’s office in their student attorney program.  She was admitted to practice under the Student Practice Rule and in fact represented the State of Montana as a student attorney, utilizing her knowledge and skills to try bench and jury misdemeanor trials.  She was also admitted to practice before the District Court where she assisted in felony trials in District Court and tried misdemeanor trials appeals on her own.  Since attaining her law degree and passing the bar, she has been employed as a deputy county attorney in Lincoln County trying misdemeanor and felony cases.  Yes, she is qualified.