Top best Insurance Lawyers in Missoula | 47 available

John was born in South Bend, Indiana, and grew up in the Smelter City of Anaconda, Montana.  When choosing a career path, his interest in science led him to Montana Tech in Butte, Montana, where he graduated with honors in Engineering Science in 1994. While going to school at Tech he also worked as a railway track crewman, an intern at an engineering firm testing magnetohydrodynamics power generation and plasma arc furnaces, and also as a powerline construction inspector.. He passed the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) exam and started graduate work in Petroleum Engineering.  However, after taking an environmental law course, he changed his mind and decided to go to law school instead.  Prior to heading to law school he obtained a commercial driver’s license and drove specialized commercial vehicles in oil fields and drove belly and end-dump trucks for the construction of the Old Works golf course in Anaconda.. John earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Montana School of Law.  After graduation, he worked as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the Montana Department of Transportation for three years.  There he handled construction, environmental and eminent domain litigation.  He also represented the agency in administrative hearings.. John went into private practice with the civil defense/insurance firm of Phillips & Bohyer, and then the Phillips Law Firm, later becoming Phillips Haffey.  In these firms he litigated insurance, injury, contract, products liability, trucking and intellectual property matters.. In November of 2015, he co-founded Haffey Vap PLLC, with Mitch Vap.  Their desire for smaller firm with a broader scope led them to form Haffey Vap.  John is admitted to practice in State and Federal Courts in Montana, the 9th Circuit and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal and as a patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  He is AV® rated by Martindale Hubbell and has been listed as a SuperLawyer® in civil litigation since 2010.  He is a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society, the State Bar of Montana, and the Defense Research Institute.. Outside of work, like many in Montana, he enjoys the outdoors – hiking, skiing, biking, snowmobiling, boating and floating.  Being born in South Bend, for better or worse, has made him a lifelong Fighting Irish fan.  Coming from immigrant Irish stock, he loves Irish history and stays in contact with his Irish cousins all over the globe.  He also plays the Great Highland bagpipes and enjoys playing whenever he can with the Celtic Dragon Pipe Band, but especially enjoys volunteering to play in parades and at memorial and veteran ceremonies.  Finally, John’s greatest passion is spending time with family and friends, especially his wife Jen, and their boys Liam and Finn.

I have been an attorney for 22 years, most recently as a partner at Garlington, Lohn & Robinson in Missoula, Montana. Prior to that, I was an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle.  Before opening my own office, my practice was primarily defense oriented in that I represented people and companies that were sued. My practice now is more general in that I represent people and businesses in a wider range of areas.

C.J. Johnson is a second-generation trial lawyer. He received a degree in history from the University of Colorado and graduated from the University of Montana School of Law in 1999. C.J. then clerked for U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard F. Cebull in Great Falls before joining a high-energy Missoula defense trial practice in 2000. In 2018, C.J. left that practice to focus exclusively on plaintiff’s civil litigation and trial work.. More than half of C.J.’s career was spent as panel-approved insurance defense counsel in cases involving catastrophic personal injuries, medical malpractice, products liability, insurance coverage, and complex real estate defect and disclosure issues. He always carved space for a handful of plaintiff’s cases, and that portion of his practice grew over fifteen years to completely supplant defense work.. C.J. has extensive trial experience and has won jury trials from both sides of the aisle. He has extensive experience with claims under the Montana Human Rights Act and the contested case process before the Montana Office of Administrative Hearings. He has taken, attended, and defended approximately one-thousand depositions and is regularly engaged to mediate cases on behalf of other attorneys. C.J.'s trial practice is limited to claims involving medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injuries, insurance bad faith, civil rights matters under the Montana Human Rights Act, and real estate defect and disclosure claims. Years spent handling these cases from both sides means that C.J. knows how to build and litigate compelling cases that anticipate what capable defense lawyers are likely to do.. C.J. is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney and a Mountain States Super Lawyer (2013 through 2023). He has previously worked by appointment as a Special Prosecutor for the Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel, is a group instructor for the Trial Advocacy Class at the School of Law, coached the School of Law Negotiations Team, and has guest-lectured at the School of Law on legal writing, civil procedure, voir dire, opening statements, conflicts of law, and trial experts. C.J. is a member of the Montana Bar Association, Western Montana Bar Association, and Montana Trial Lawyers’ Association. He is admitted to practice in all Montana state and federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has handled numerous appeals to the Montana Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.. C.J. is married and has three uber-awesome kids.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.

Experienced Insurance attorney serving clients in Missoula and surrounding areas.