Commission nominates 4 for Missoula district judge position

The Judicial Nomination Commission has forwarded the names of four Missoula attorneys to Gov. Steve Bullock for appointment to an upcoming judicial vacancy in the 4th Judicial District.

The 4th Judicial District covers Missoula and Mineral Counties. The four nominees are:

• Travis Benjamin Dye, 47, a partner at Kalkstein & Dye. Dye is a 2001 graduate of the University of Montana School of Law. After law school he clerked for U.S. District Court Chief Judge Donald L. Molloy. He was an associate at Phillps, Bohyer & Hedger for four years before joining his current firm, first as an associate then as a non-equity partner. He was the 2017 winner of the State Bar’s Neil Haight Pro Bono Award.

• Larry Dean Mansch, 61, legal and clinic director of Montana Innocence Project. Mansch is a 1983 graduate of the Creighton University School of Law. Before joining the Innocence Project, he was managing partner at Mansch and McLaverty. He served as a Judge Advocate General for the Montana National Guard from 1991-2011 and he was a Missoula County Public Defender from 1985-1999.

• Jason Troy Marks, 41, chief deputy county attorney for the Missoula County Attorney’s Office. A 2005 graduate of Temple University School of Law, Marks has worked for the County Attorney’s Office since 2001. He previously worked for the Office of the State Public Defender and the Missoula County Public Defender’s Office.

• Michael Joseph Sherwood, 68, president of Michael J. Sherwood, P.C. A 1977 graduate of the University of Montana School of Law, Sherwood has been in private practice as a sole practitioner or as a partner his entire career. He was the Montana Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1988 and the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year in 2000.

The governor will choose one of the four to replace the Honorable Karen Townsend, who is retiring after eight years on the bench.

Ten attorneys applied for the opening. Before nominating Dye, Mansch, Marks and Sherwood on July 16, the commission took public comment and interviewed all 10 applicants.

Commission members are District Judge John C. Brown of Bozeman; Janice Bishop of Missoula; Karl Englund of Missoula; Elizabeth Halverson of Billings; Hal Harper of Helena; Lane Larson of Billings; and Nancy Zadick of Great Falls.