Robert Farris-Olsen - Helena, MT

Awards and Honors

Education

• Legal Education

  • University of Montana School of Law, Missoula, Montana, 2011
    J.D.
    Honors: With Honors
    Honors: Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law

• Non Legal Education

  • Whitman College, 2006
    B.A.
    Major: Environmental Studies
    Major: Chemistry

Past Positions

• Helena City Commissioner, 2015-2018

Pro Bono Activities

• Awareness Network, Board member, 2019
• Montana State Representative, HD 79, 2019
• Member Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission, 2019
• Board Chair, MontPIRG, 2011

Representative Cases

• Morrow v. Bank of America (2014) (Amicus Counsel - Established that a bank is subject to the Montana Consumer Protection Act for its loan modification application errors)
• Lewis and Clark County v. Hampton (2014)
• MEA-MFT v. State (2014) (Removed LR-127 from the ballot and protected our election integrity)
• Matter of the Adoption of A.W.S. and K.R.S. (2015) (Established the right to an attorney for an indigent parent in an termination of parenting rights through adoption )
• DiFrancesco v. Fox (2017) (Challenge to constitutionality of suspending driver license based on failure to pay fines)
• Montana City Meats v. State of Montana (2018) ($75,000 settlement for civil rights violations)
• Gersh v. Anglin (2019) (Co-counsel, $14 million judgment against Andrew Anglin & the Daily Stormer)
• Reavis v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (2020) (Upholding right of student loan borrowers to sue servicers for misrepresenting/miscalculating borrower payments).
• Commissioner of Political Practices v. Western Tradition Partnership (2020) ($1.76 million default judgment for violations of Montana’s campaign finance laws)

Published Works

Articles

• Morrow v. Bank of America, and the Further Development of Consumer Law in Montana (with Kim Wilson), James Browning Symposium, Sept. 25, 2020.
  
• Helping Consumers in Foreclosure in Light of Morrow v. Bank of America, Trial Trends, Apr. 4, 2020
  

Bar Admissions

• Montana State Supreme Court
• U.S. District Court District of Montana
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit