New Legal Project Offers Free Constitutional Representation for Montanans

HELENA — A new legal project launched Monday aims to provide free constitutional representation to Montanans who cannot afford private attorneys or face cases where the economic stakes don’t justify hiring counsel.

The Big Sky Legal Project, a partnership between Montana’s Frontier Institute and Arizona’s Goldwater Institute, will offer pro bono legal services to assist Montanans whose rights are being violated by federal, state, or local government actions.

The announcement comes as many Montanans struggle to find legal representation for disputes with government entities, often due to potential conflicts of interest when local attorneys hold lucrative contracts with the same government bodies.

“Our goal for the Big Sky Legal Project is to empower all Montanans, regardless of their means or legal knowledge, to fiercely defend their fundamental economic and educational rights against the government, and win,” said Kendall Cotton, President & CEO of Frontier Institute. “We are incredibly grateful to the Goldwater Institute for their partnership in providing this tremendous opportunity to help defend Montanans’ constitutional rights.”

The project will focus specifically on three areas of Montana’s constitution: the right to peacefully own and use property, the right to earn a living free from government interference, and the equality of educational opportunity guaranteed to every Montanan.

Jon Riches, Vice President for Litigation at Goldwater Institute, said the organization is “proud to partner with Frontier Institute to expand our national litigation work through the Big Sky Legal Project. We look forward to helping advance freedom and defend individual rights in Montana.”

Unlike general legal aid services, the Big Sky Legal Project will prioritize cases with the potential to establish legal precedent affecting all Montanans. The project explicitly excludes criminal matters, disputes between private parties, alleged government conspiracies, and family law cases.

Montanans seeking representation can submit case inquiries through the Frontier Institute website, with a 30-day response timeline. The project warns that submission does not create an attorney-client relationship or guarantee representation.

In addition to direct representation, the partnership will work to build Montana’s pool of constitutional attorneys by recruiting lawyers to join Goldwater’s American Freedom Network of pro-bono attorneys and offering clerkship opportunities for Montana law students.

The Goldwater Institute, founded in 1988 with Senator Barry Goldwater’s blessing, has established a track record of constitutional litigation focusing on limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty across multiple states.

Frontier Institute, established in 2020 as Montana’s free-market think tank, describes its mission as keeping “the spirit of the western frontier alive in Montana through sound public policy and educational programs.”

The project accepts case inquiries online at frontierinstitute.org or by mail at PO Box 5104, Helena, MT 59604. The organizations will not take case inquiries over the phone or in person.