William Leaphart
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William Leaphart (b. 1946) is an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court, a position to which he was elected in the state's non-partisan elections in 1994. His current eight-year term ends in 2010.
Leaphart was born in Butte, Montana. He attended Whitman College, 1965-1966, and the University of Montana, 1966-1969, where he received a B.A. in Liberal Arts. He attended the University of Montana Law School where he served as an associate editor of the Montana Law Review. He received a J.D. from the University of Montana School of Law in 1972.
Legal career
Justice Leaphart served as a Law Clerk to Senior United States District Court Judge W. D. Murray in Butte, Montana, 1972-1974. He then engaged in the general practice of law for 21 years with his father, C. W. Leaphart, in Helena, Montana, where he worked as a public defender and represented individuals and small businesses. As a practitioner, he had extensive experience in handling appeals with more than 50 appeals to the state and federal courts-- including two oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court.
He was elected to the Montana Supreme Court in 1994 and was re-elected to a second term in November, 2002. He is a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute.
