September 26, 2004: Headlines: COS - Fiji: Politics: Election2004 - Younkin: Great Falls Tribune: Cindy Younkin served in the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands and as a state legislator since 1999, holding spots in the Republican House leadership

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Fiji: Peace Corps Fiji : The Peace Corps in Fiji: September 26, 2004: Headlines: COS - Fiji: Politics: Election2004 - Younkin: Great Falls Tribune: Cindy Younkin served in the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands and as a state legislator since 1999, holding spots in the Republican House leadership

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.185.151) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 3:18 pm: Edit Post

Cindy Younkin served in the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands and as a state legislator since 1999, holding spots in the Republican House leadership

Cindy Younkin served in the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands and as a state legislator since 1999, holding spots in the Republican House leadership

Cindy Younkin served in the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands and as a state legislator since 1999, holding spots in the Republican House leadership

Younkin defends diverse career

By MIKE DENNISON
Tribune Capitol Bureau

HELENA -- Bozeman attorney Cindy Younkin is running for a seat on the highest court in Montana.

She's also being sued for legal malpractice, accused of giving bad advice to the town of Clyde Park on a water right.

Younkin, a Republican state representative, says she has a broad base of legal experience, practicing law for 15 years on everything from real estate to divorces.

Her detractors say Younkin has no noticeable reputation beyond a local practice that includes almost no trial or appellate work.

Younkin, 46, is challenging incumbent Supreme Court Jim Nelson, a 10-year veteran of the court who has authored 600 opinions.

Younkin has little trial experience and a diverse career outside the courtroom, facts noted by both supporters and opponents in making their case.

In addition to practicing law in Bozeman, she's also served in the Peace Corps in the Fiji Islands and as a state legislator since 1999, holding spots in the Republican House leadership.

Younkin has been openly critical of Nelson and the court, saying he's part of a court majority that too often reverses precedent and is "inconsistent" in its interpretation of the law.

Nelson supporters say her criticism is off-base, and that Nelson is a fair, impartial judge. Some also have suggested Younkin doesn't have the legal experience it takes to be a Supreme Court judge.

"She has no reputation as an attorney," says Jim Goetz, a prominent Bozeman lawyer and Nelson supporter. "If you're looking for someone qualified to sit on the highest court in the state, you ought to have a little trial experience, in my view."

Supporters counter that Younkin has the qualities needed to serve on the state's highest court. Marty Lambert, the Gallatin County attorney, calls her "very fair and very insightful with regard to the issues that she and I have talked about.

"Her temperament is most appropriate for someone who's going on the bench," he says.

Younkin, in private practice since 1988, says she's tried "a handful" of cases before a jury and taken "a few" cases to the state Supreme Court.

She is one of several attorneys in Moore, O'Connell and Refling, an established Bozeman law firm.

Many of her clients have been in agriculture, and her work often focuses on arranging property easements, contracts, leases, estate planning and water rights, she says. However, Younkin says she's also worked on divorces, civil defense and some criminal work, prosecuting misdemeanors as city attorney for White Sulphur Springs.

"I've done a really wide variety of things in my career," she says. "Having a variety of judges with a variety of backgrounds on the court is better, because that gives you different perspectives. ...

"I know what the rules of civil procedure and evidence are, and the rules of an appellate court."

Younkin acknowledges she has not worked on criminal defense or felony criminal cases, or personal injury and liability cases on behalf of plaintiffs.

Scott Burnham, a law professor at the University of Montana, says it's not unusual for lawyers to lack trial experience: "Most lawyers never set foot in a courtroom."

He also notes that almost half the cases before the Montana Supreme Court are criminal cases, so it might help to have some background there. However, he says "no matter what your (legal) background is, you're going to run into things that you've never seen before" as a judge.

Younkin's name has been before the state Supreme Court recently, but not as counsel for a client. She's a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the town of Clyde Park, which says she gave them advice that cost the town thousands of dollars on its water system.

Younkin advised the town in 1996 to sign a settlement with a local landowner over water rights to a stream and spring.

The lawsuit by the town, filed in May 2003, said the town "unknowingly waived its right to claim a much larger share of the water" by signing the settlement. It says Younkin didn't adequately investigate the right.

The town had to redesign its water system and drill expensive wells, the lawsuit said, and it has claimed at least $152,000 in damages.

State District Judge Nels Swandal of Livingston dismissed the lawsuit a year ago, saying the town filed the case too long after discovering the alleged error by Younkin. Swandal's decision is on appeal to the Supreme Court.

Fred Paoli, a Livingston attorney hired by Clyde Park to pursue the case, said it will proceed even if the Supreme Court rules against the town. The liability can be assigned to parties other than Younkin, and the merits of her advice still can be argued, he said.

Younkin says she stands by the advice she gave Clyde Park and would give it again today: "I don't lead my clients down the garden path. I'm not going to give them advice that I don't think is good, sound advice."

Even Paoli says it's not fair to point to the lawsuit as defining Younkin's career: "It's one of many factors that define an attorney's career."

Among attorneys in Bozeman, sentiments about Younkin seem to follow the lines of who supports whom in the Supreme Court race.

Jane Mersen, a Bozeman lawyer who supports Younkin, says she's been involved in a few cases with Younkin and found her work to be sound. Younkin encouraged her clients to seek mediation in one case, and won a dispute in an estate case in another, Mersen says.

"She briefed (the latter case) well, she argued it well and the court adopted her position and not mine, so she did a good job there," Mersen says.

One of Mersen's law partners, Kent Casting, supports Nelson. He says Younkin was very helpful in sponsoring legislation he was interested in. But he doesn't like how Younkin has "politicized this race" or how she's said the high court must defer more to the Legislature.

"Judges are not there to rubber-stamp the law," he says. "They must determine if (a law) passes constitutional muster."

If campaign donations are any indication, a large majority of attorneys in Younkin's hometown prefer Nelson. About 40 Bozeman lawyers have contributed to Nelson's campaign, giving more than $6,000. Only 14 Bozeman attorneys are listed as contributors to the Younkin campaign, totaling $2,000.

Among Bozeman business people, Younkin is the clear favorite, with contributions from nearly 250 Bozeman builders, developers, Realtors, bankers, loggers, ranchers, miners, doctors and other business owners.

Younkin says she understands perfectly well the role of the court and the Legislature.

"I don't believe that a court should be a rubber stamp," she says. "But the public policy does not come from the court, it comes from the Legislature, it comes from the people."





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Story Source: Great Falls Tribune

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Fiji; Politics; Election2004 - Younkin

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