MCGARVEY LAW - Key Persons
Allan McGarvey is a Kalispell native who has been practicing law for over 30 years. The emphasis of his work has been in major civil litigation and class actions to vindicate the rights of consumers with insurance claims and needless injury by reckless corporate conduct.
Allan's practice emphasizes class actions, complex litigation, and asset recovery through challenges to corporate mergers, spinoffs and trusts. He was lead council in the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company profit sharing litigation and the shareholder litigation over the dismantling of the Montana Power Company. Each of these cases was settled in the range of $100 million. Allan has had an active appellate practice in the Montana and federal courts and is part of the team of lawyers advocating for the victims of the Libby asbestos disaster.
Allan also has an advanced law degree in sustainable international development and is working to advance justice-related initiatives in Central America.
Education
University of Washington School of Law
Born and raised in Montana, Dale McGarvey founded his firm in Kalispell in 1955 and spent his career fiercely advocating for fellow Montanans and the wild lands he so loved. His legal achievements were extensive; among other victories, he helped protect property owners in a 100-year flood zone from predatory insurance policies, pushed the Columbia Falls aluminum plant to enact environmental controls while protecting local jobs, and ensured that farmers were properly compensated for land taken when the Kootenai Dam was built.
Dale spent summers camping on the shores of Lake McDonald and worked as a section hand on the railroad before receiving his law degree from the University of Montana, where he graduated at the top of his class. He earned a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School before returning to Montana to fight for what was right, work he described as a labor of love.
"We all have a stake in making this a better community, a better state, and a better nation."
Dustin grew up in the mountains of Western Montana and amongst the Redwoods of the Pacific Northwest. Between surfing in the Pacific and skiing the slopes of Big Mountain, his passion for the outdoors inspired his academic path into policy and law.
He attended The University of Montana for his undergraduate degrees in Geology and Political Science. There, he served as the president of the student body and the board chair of the Montana Public Interest Research Group. Dustin received his J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Public Land and Resources Law Review and interned for the U.
During his summers, Dustin worked as a river guide throughout Montana and Idaho, where his admiration for wild places, such as the Middle Fork of the Salmon, inspired his career in conservation and public interest law.
Since beginning practice, Dustin has been working with McGarvey Law to litigate the Libby Asbestos cases. He has worked on numerous other environmental restoration and land use cases and assisted the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices as a Special Attorney General. He's also conducted a number of successful trials in front of the Worker's Compensation Court and was second chair for the historic verdict in Hutt v. Maryland Casualty Company. Dustin specializes in complex settlement negotiations and resolutions, having done so for thousands of his clients from Libby.
Erin was born and raised in Kalispell and attended Portland State University, graduating summa cum laude in 2011 with a degree in Philosophy. Erin began her legal career working as a legal assistant for six years. Beginning in 2018, Erin attended the University of Montana School of Law. In 2021, Erin graduated with high honors and received the Fran Elge Award and Clinical Legal Education Outstanding Student of the Year Award. After graduation, Erin clerked for Justice Shea at the Montana Supreme Court.
Erin is the proud daughter and granddaughter of Allan McGarvey, Senior Partner, and Dale McGarvey, founder of McGarvey Law. She grew up watching first hand the dedication and hard work required to bring justice to thousands of Montana workers and their families. She is honored to continue the legacy by joining McGarvey Law as an associate attorney.
Ethan is from Northwest Montana. His appreciation of the natural world and his fellow Montana residents fuels his professional interest in the cleanup of environmental contamination, the protection and preservation of our collective health and environment, and pursuing justice on behalf of injured citizens and workers. Throughout his career, Ethan has focused on scientific and medical aspects of the law. His expertise in the field has suited his focus of practice at McGarvey Law well.
Ethan graduated with high honors from the University of Montana with a degree in Human Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Chemistry. He then graduated from The University of Montana School of Law in 2011 and was admitted to the Montana State Bar that same year. Ethan has a variety of trial and courtroom experience, having practiced environmental, civil, criminal, family and administrative law before various courts and government agencies. He has spent much of his professional career representing Montana workers and residents with lung disease, cancer, and mesothelioma resulting from exposure to asbestos and other toxic substances in their homes, communities, and workplaces. He has successfully litigated and obtained substantial recoveries in lung disease, cancer, and mesothelioma cases in state, federal, and workers' compensation courts. He has successfully brought cases before the Montana Supreme Court on multiple occasions. Ethan has also successfully litigated and obtained substantial recoveries in multiple high profile environmental contamination cases across the state of Montana. In addition to cases on behalf of individuals and their families, Ethan, and the rest of the McGarvey Law team, regularly and successfully litigate a variety of complex group, mass tort, and class action suits.
Education
University of Montana School of Law
Juris Doctor, 2011
University of Montana
Jinnifer was born and raised in Libby, Montana and attended Montana State University on a women's basketball scholarship. After graduation, Jinnifer served as a legislative assistant for Senator Max Baucus in Washington, D.C.
Being raised in Libby, Montana and seeing first-hand the impacts of asbestos on her hometown inspired Jinnifer to attend law school. During law school she served as the head law clerk for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland, Oregon, prosecuting federal misdemeanors. Upon graduation, Jinnifer began her practice in Bend, Oregon where she represented clients in complex commercial, business, estate, and tribal disputes. In December 2011, Jinnifer returned home to Montana eventually becoming a partner in a firm where she continued to help clients resolve civil disputes involving property, professional negligence, estate, business, and local governments.
In April 2018, Jinnifer joined McGarvey Law as a partner. She gets to fulfill the very reason she became a lawyer: to help the folks in her hometown of Libby, Montana who have been sickened by asbestos exposure.
Jinnifer and her husband, Gabe, enjoy showing their two daughters all that being raised in Northwest Montana has to offer.
John has been with the firm since 1999 and specializes in civil litigation. Originally from the Midwest, John attended Carleton College, earning a bachelor of arts in philosophy. He graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he also served as an editor on the Journal of Law & Inequality.
John came to Montana in 1997 as a law clerk for Justice Terry N. Trieweiler at the Montana Supreme Court in Helena before moving to the Flathead Valley.
John is actively involved with his church and numerous non-profit organizations throughout the Flathead. He and his wife, Dana, a Spanish teacher at Whitefish High School, have two children. Much of John's time away from McGarvey Law involves an enthusiastic role coaching and supporting youth soccer.
Education
University of Minnesota
Juris Doctor, cum laude, 1997
Carleton College
Over the course of the last 35 years Roger's legal career has focused on two objectives: securing justice for Montana's workers and advocating for Montanans' constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.
Roger has litigated a number of landmark cases in both the environmental and workers' rights fields. He has been named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Montana Trial Lawyers Association for his advocacy on behalf of Montana's workers, and Conservationist of the Year by the Montana Environmental Information Center for his environmental advocacy.
Roger is especially proud that his clients have twice been honored with the Citizens Award by the Montana Trial Lawyers Association: the Advisory Committee for the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company Profit Sharing Class Action which succeeded in securing settlements in the range of $100 million; and Libby asbestos victims recognized for their successful efforts in the courts and in defeating corporate bailout legislation at the state and national levels.
Roger is admitted to practice in Montana's state and federal courts; the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Roger is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hiking, skiing, sailing, and fishing-especially with his children and grandchildren.