Mark Stermitz is an attorney in Crowley Fleck’s Missoula office. Mark has many years of experience in environmental, natural resource, and energy litigation and projects. Mark is an experienced trial attorney who has tried high profile cases in many jurisdictions.

Mark began his career in rural Stanford, Montana, with a general civil litigation practice and was Judith Basin County Attorney. His experience after that included time as a Deputy Lake County Attorney trying criminal cases and partnership in a Kalispell firm trying civil and environmental cases. Mark eventually became a trial attorney for the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C., handling environmental cases coast to coast. Mark left DOJ for a position as Assistant General Counsel for the Port of Portland, Oregon, handling environmental and land use matters for the Port’s marine, aviation, and real estate divisions. Eventually Mark joined the Glaser Weil law firm in Los Angeles, where in addition to civil and environmental litigation, he was responsible for the energy and environmental aspects of MGM Mirage’s $8.5 billion, 67 acre Las Vegas CityCenter development.

Since returning home to Montana with Crowley Fleck Mark has continued to focus on environment and energy related matters and complex civil litigation.

Mark is proud to be a native Montanan, a U.S. Navy veteran and former smokejumper.

Practice Areas

Bar Admission

Federal and state courts:
Montana, California, Oregon, North Dakota
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Pro Hac Vice – multiple states
U.S. Supreme Court

Education

J.D., University of Montana School of Law
B.A., University of Montana

Prior Experience (Employment)

Mark Stermitz has more than 35 years of litigation and project development experience ranging from rural Montana to Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. He has tried a wide variety of civil and criminal cases to juries, cases of judicial review, and administrative proceedings. Mark has for many years been a valuable asset for risk assessment and permitting on project teams for industrial sites, redevelopment, transmission lines, pipelines, mines, and mixed use real estate development.

Honors & Awards

Best Lawyers in America for Environmental Law and Natural Resources Law (2013- Present)
AV Preeminent Peer Rating
AV Preeminent Judicial Edition Rating
U.S. Attorney General’s Special Achievement Award
Montana Justice Foundation – Champion of Justice (2014)

Professional Affiliations

State Bar of Montana
Oregon State Bar Association
California State Bar Association
North Dakota State Bar Association
American Bar Association

Presentations & Publications

November 2018 – Program Chair, “Land Use Law In Montana” (Missoula, MT)
March 2017 – Presentation, “Permitting Strategies for Large, Controversial Projects” (Seattle, WA)
March 2016 – Panel, “Legal Obstacles to Energy Development” (Billings, MT)
January 2013 – Presentation, “Eminent Domain Compensation in Western States” (Western Governors Assoc., Scottsdale, AZ)

Author, Paris Climate Accord, Best Lawyers, September 1, 2017

Reported Decisions / Cases

Defenders of Wildlife v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 730 Fed.Appx. 413, 2018 WL 1615962 (9th Cir. 2018)
Montanore Minerals Corp. v. Bakie, 867 F.3d 1160 (9th Cir. 2017)
Western Montana Community Partners, Inc. v. Austin, 696 Fed.Appx. 789, 2017 WL 2616951 (9th Cir. 2017)
National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service, (D. Ore.), 2017 WL 1829588
Indigenous Environmental Network V. U.S. Dept. of State, 317 F.Supp.3d 1118 (D. Mont. 2018)
Masters Group Intn’l, Inc. v. Comerica Bank, 380 Mont. 1, 352 P.3d 1101 (2015)
Mines Management Inc. v. Fus, 376 Mont. 375. 334 P.3d 929 (2014)
Northern Plains Resource Council v. Mont. Bd. Land Commn’rs, 366 Mont. 399, 288 P.3d 169 (2012)
United States v. ConocoPhillips Company, 2011 WL 4709887 (D. N.D. 2011)
Dembrowski v. City of West Hollywood, 2010 WL 1212411 (Cal. Court of Appeals, 2nd Dist.)
Grant School Dist. No. 3 v. Dombeck, 126 Fed.Appx. 823, 2005 WL 660677 (9th Cir. 2005)
Center for Biological Diversity v. Pirie, 191 F.Supp.2d 161 (D.D.C. 2002)
Carlton v. Babbitt, 147 F.Supp.2d 4 (D.D.C. 2001)