Laurie McKinnon (born January 4, 1960) is an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court. She was elected to her first eight-year term in 2012.^[1]

Background

McKinnon was born January 4, 1960, in Baltimore, Maryland.^[2] She attended Goucher College and received her undergraduate degree in 1982.^[2] She attended the University of Baltimore School of Law and received her Juris Doctor in 1986.^[2] She began practicing law in 1987 as a prosecutor in Baltimore for the State's Attorney's Office.^[1] After that she started her own practice handling both civil and criminal litigation.^[1] In 1995 she moved to Cut Bank, Montana^[2] and later became a Deputy County Attorney for Glacier (1997-2000) and Teton County (2001-2006).^[1][2] McKinnon won the election in 2006 and became judge of the 9th Montana District Court, which is Teton, Toole, Pondera, and Glacier counties, in 2007.^[3][4] In 2010 McKinnon was awarded Judge of the year by the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Montana for her work in cases involving abused and neglected children.^[1][3] In 2011, she received a grant from the United States Department of Justice to implement a drug court within the 9th Montana District Court.^[1][5]

In 2012, McKinnon ran for and in November of that year was elected to the Montana Supreme Court. She was sworn in to start her eight-year term in January 2013.^[1]