With more than 25 years of experience, Timothy has successfully taken on major corporations and institutions with significant resources, including prisons, major automakers, mining companies, and the federal government.

Through his work as a personal injury attorney, he has covered a wide range of cases, including:

  • Defective products: Timothy represented a hunter who was permanently injured when a tree stand’s safety harness failed. The harness had no markings, so he spent more than a year tracing it to the manufacturer, and a metallurgical expert showed that a metal clamp on the strap couldn’t withstand the force of a fall.
  • Medical malpractice: He has brought negligence claims against the federal government for Native American patients who received inadequate care at Indian Health Service facilities, including cases involving a delayed stroke diagnosis, a missed heart condition, and a death during an asthma attack.
  • Pollution and toxic exposure: Timothy has handled cases involving gasoline and diesel spills from crashed tankers, flooding from a failed mine tailings dam, a hog-farm manure spill that caused respiratory problems on a ranch, and oil-field wastewater that contaminated a ranch.
  • Sexual assault: He represented a Wyoming woman who was sexually assaulted by an on-duty Bureau of Indian Affairs officer. After nearly a decade of litigation, including a precedent-setting Montana Supreme Court decision that Timothy argued, a federal judge held the government responsible for the $1.6 Million verdict.

In one case, Timothy helped win a $27.75 Million verdict for a man who suffered a severe brain injury after being attacked by another inmate in a private prison. The jury found that the prison operator had failed to protect him.

Timothy thoroughly researches each case he takes on, gathers the evidence needed to support his argument, and stays involved at every stage of the legal process, from the first meeting through trial or settlement.

Background & Education

Timothy grew up on a dairy farm near Cold Spring, Minnesota. He earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard College, then spent a year in Germany on a Rotary International fellowship.

Timothy went on to receive a master’s degree in environmental studies and later completed his J.D. at the University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law, where he graduated with high honors.

After law school, Timothy served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. In 2002, he entered into private practice and has handled cases in more than a dozen other states and the District of Columbia.

Timothy is an active member of his community. He chaired the Missoula City Park Board from 1999 to 2011 and has served on the boards of Friends of Missoula Parks, the Harvard Club of Montana, and Montana Law PAC, among other local organizations.

He is also a past president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association, which named him Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2025. In 2026, he received the John Adams CJA Panel Lawyer of the Year award for his work representing people in federal criminal cases who could not afford a lawyer.

Awards & Recognition

  • Appellate Advocacy Award, Montana Trial Lawyers Association, 2023
  • Trial Lawyer of the Year, Montana Trial Lawyers Association, 2025
  • Leonard Weinglass in Defense of Civil Liberties Award, American Association for Justice, 2025
  • Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating
  • John Adams CJA Panel Lawyer of the Year, Federal Defenders of Montana and Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2026

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Montana, 2000
  • U.S. District Court, District of Montana, 2000
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2002
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 2004
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 2006
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, 2008
  • Washington, 2025

Education

  • Harvard College, A.B., 1984
  • University of Montana, M.S., 1992
  • University of Montana, J.D., 2000

Affiliations

  • Montana Trial Lawyers Association, Past President
  • American Association for Justice
  • Public Justice
  • Federal Bar Association, Montana Chapter President, 2010-2012
  • American Bar Foundation, Life Fellow