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Meet the Team

 

Synder, Beaudry and Cook - Brandt Beaudry

BRANT BEAUDRY

Brant is a proud graduate of the University of Montana School of Law (2015) and one of Toby’s classmates. Brant attended high school at Sentinel High School in Missoula and attended the University of Montana where he majored in Environmental Studies.

Brant spent his college summers working in eastern Montana and northwest North Dakota as a petroleum landman where he was first introduced to real estate law. After graduating law school, Brant served two terms as a judicial law clerk; the first for the Honorable Leslie Halligan in Missoula County District Court and the second for the Honorable Robert Allison in Flathead County District Court. Brant gained valuable experience working with the judges and court staff.

After completing his clerkships, Brant joined Snyder Law Office in Bigfork as an associate attorney working for Randy Snyder. Randy’s 40 years of legal experience and well-established practice was a perfect place for Brant to hone his skills in real estate law, estate planning, and business law. Randy and Brant remain close friends and colleagues and maintain a mentor/mentee relationship.

Brant spends his free time playing basketball, golfing, hunting, fishing, and enjoying Montana’s great outdoors with his friends, family, wife and dogs.

 


 

Toby Cook

Toby Cook

Toby is a proud graduate of the University of Montana School of Law (2015). During law school, he worked with the Montana Innocence Project (MTIP) helping to free innocent Montanans who were wrongfully convicted of serious crimes, including homicides, kidnappings, robberies, and other offenses.

After graduating, Toby served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Russell Fagg in Billings. During his clerkship, Toby helped draft judicial orders and legal opinions in both criminal and civil matters. Additionally, Toby watch several trials (both criminal and civil), learning from some of Yellowstone Counties’ top trial attorneys.

After completing his clerkship, Toby returned to MTIP as a full-time licensed attorney. During his time with MTIP, Toby helped overturn wrongful convictions in six cases and helped secure exonerations for those clients. He also learned about the causes of wrongful convictions and how to prevent them. Because of his knowledge and experience with DNA, false confessions, government misconduct, junk science, witness misidentification, and other causes of wrongful convictions, Toby co-taught a course on wrongful convictions at the University of Montana College of Sociology. Toby has also been recognized for his work with MTIP by various organizations, including the Montana Association of Criminal Defense attorneys.

After years of working in post-conviction relief, Toby accepted a position with the Montana Office of the Public Defenders. As a public defender, Toby worked to protect his clients’ rights and secure favorable outcomes in both misdemeanors and felony cases.

In criminal cases, Toby has experience in trials, appeals, post-conviction relief, and habeas corpus at both the state and federal level. He also has experience in estate planning, business planning, and real estate transactions.

In his free time, Toby enjoys spending time in Montana’s great outdoors. On weekends, Toby can often be found fishing, hiking, rock climbing, and/or camping in Big Sky country.

Licensure

  • Montana State Court
  • Federal District Court
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Awards

  •  
  • Lawyer of the Year Award; Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
  • Emmet C. Angland Pro Bono Service Award
  • Paul Raftery Memorial Award
  • Montana Law Student Pro Bono Service Award
  • Montana Innocence Project Freedom Fighter Award

 

Media:

Billings Gazette, Helena Air, Missoulian, Casper Star Tribune, Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Montana Innocence Project

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2018-06-01/judge-dismisses-murder-charges-after-convictions-overturned

https://www.kxlf.com/news/2018/04/20/dna-just-one-tool-to-review-old-cases-in-montana/

 


 

Synder, Beaudry and Cook - Larry Mansch

LARRY D. MANSCH

Larry D. Mansch staffs the Missoula office of Snyder, Beaudry & Cook, PC. Larry brings 40 years of legal experience to the firm. He is admitted to practice in all Montana Courts, including the Montana Supreme Court, as well as Federal Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Larry graduated from Slayton, Minnesota High School. He earned varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track, and is one of only a handful of basketball players in school history to score over 1,000 points in his career. In 1980 he received his B.A. in Political Science/Public Administration from Hamline University, where he played both basketball and baseball. Larry received his Juris Doctor degree from the Creighton University School of Law in 1983.

Larry was admitted to practice law in Montana in 1984. After internships at the Department of State Lands and the Montana Taxpayers Association, he began his career as law clerk for Judge Russell McDonough in Glendive, Montana. He then served as Public Defender in Richland, McCone, and Wibaux Counties. He was one of the first five attorneys selected to serve as Public Defender in Missoula County in 1985, the first county in Montana to establish a fulltime PD office. He achieved the position of Senior Attorney during his 14-year tenure. He was in private practice for five years, serving as managing partner for Mansch, McLaverty and Associates, PC.

Larry served as Legal Director of the Montana Innocence Project for six years. Working with Toby Cook, the Project secured the exoneration of seven individuals who had been wrongfully convicted, and who had collectively served over 100 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. For their work at the Innocence Project, in 2020 Larry and Toby were named Montana’s Co-Attorneys of the Year by the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

For nine years Larry served as Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Montana. His courses included Criminal Procedure, Criminal Adjudication, Wrongful Convictions, Law and Society, and Sociology of Law Enforcement. He also has taught classes at the Montana Osher Lifetime Learning Institute for 10 years; his “Great American Trials” is one of MOLLI’s most popular courses.

In 1991 Larry received a direct commission into the Montana Army National Guard, Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He completed Officer Basic training at Fort Lee, Virginia, and Advanced Course training at the Judge Advocate General School at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2004 he graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was assigned to the 163d Armored Brigade in Bozeman, the 1889th Regional Support Group in Butte, and the Joint Force Headquarters in Helena. He completed tours of duty at Fort Clayton, Panama, and U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz headquarters in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Throughout his military career, Larry focused on criminal justice, serving as Regional Trial Defense Services Coordinator. He also practiced in the areas of Operations Law, Environmental Law, Contracts, Claims, and Family Readiness. Larry retired from the military as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2011.

In 2006 Larry received his Masters in Education degree from the University of Montana. For 10 years he taught Social Studies for Missoula Catholic Schools.

In 2018 Larry was named to the Montana Public Defender Commission by Governor Steve Bullock.

Larry has authored six books:

Rube Marquard: The Life and Times of a Baseball Hall of Famer (McFarland & Co., 1998)

The Legal Environment of Business (Abbott Publishing, 2003)

Abraham Lincoln President-Elect (McFarland & Co., 2007)

Abraham Lincoln (for George McGovern) (Times Books, 2008)

Martin Luther: The Life and Lessons (co-written with Dr. Curtis Peters) (McFarland & Co., 2016)

Hometown: Growing Up and Playing Ball in Slayton, Minnesota (Barnes and Noble Press, 2023)

Larry had four grown children: Bethany, Lincoln, Abigail, and Madison. In his spare time, he enjoys playing with his grandchildren, golfing, floating the Clark Fork River, hiking in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, and following Griz and Lady Griz athletics.

 

Media:

https://www.umt.edu/history/newsletters/documents/2015-fall-newsletter.pdf 

https://mtinnocenceproject.org/lawyer-of-the-year-awarded-to-mtips-toby-cook-larry-mansch/

http://hsapp.hs.umt.edu/dms/index.php/Download/file/5617/e8dc92465f328ebe6f39f3e8f59fb19139a0ba37/SOCI362%20-%20Sociology%20of%20Law%20Enfo  

https://publicdefender.mt.gov/_docs/GovernorsReport/2017/Members.pdf  

https://molli.sharefile.com/share/view/sb08f7014789c4d66ab4fffb143f0fac1

 


 

Randall Snyder

Randall A Snyder

Randy was born in Bozeman and grew up in Great Falls Montana.  He graduated in 1973, having skied the Missouri River in summer and King’s Hill-Showdown in winter.  Randy and partner William Bronson were 1973 high school debate champions.  He graduated with honors in Speech Communication from the University of Montana in 1977 and from the UM (now Alexander Blewitt II Law School) in 1980.  He returned to Great Falls for three years with the Cascade County Attorney, moving to Bigfork in 1983.  He opened his one-room office, running documents off his first IBM with floppy drives. In the 1990’s Randy returned to public speaking, teaching CLE’s to attorneys, Realtors and title examiners on easements and boundary concerns.  Randy joined the State Bar Board of Trustees, going through the chairs until becoming President in 2013-2014.  He misses that daily.   The Law Firm grew, but after some 40 years, Randy passed the helm to his Associates and now works part time.

Randy and Linda married in 1984 and raised three children including twin daughters.  He hunts, sails Flathead Lake, teaches adult Sunday School and loves outdoor cooking.  Randy became a CASA volunteer from 2005 to 2016 and continues to teach seminars to lawyers, title examiners and surveyors.  He chairs the Board for Bigfork Food Bank.  Randy lives on five acres with his blonde wife of 35 years and has three grown children.  He still sails and water skis on Flathead Lake.

 


 

Wendy Appel

Wendy Appel

Paralegal

Pattie Miller

Patricia Miller

Paralegal

Lauren Utterback

Lauren Utterback

Legal Assistant/Tech Support

Bigfork Office:

8090 Highway 35
Bigfork, Montana 59911

 

Bigfork Law - Attorney Lawyers in Flathead Valley

CALL FOR CONSULTATION

(406) 837-4383

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(Fridays by appointment only)

Missoula Office:

111 N. Higgins, Ave. Suite 204
Missoula, Montana 59802