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MONTANA NEWS
Carlson named NCBP Fellows Award winner
Robert Carlson, a former president of both the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Montana, was selected the 2021 NCBP Fellows Award winner.
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Carlson is the first person from Montana to win the award from the National Conference of Bar Presidents, which cited his various leadership roles, his legal career, and his service to his community. He has been at Butte’s Corette Black Carlson & Mickelson, where he is currently a shareholder, since 1986 and has practiced law for 41 years. A graduate of the University of Montana, he earned his JD from the UM School of Law in 1979.
After serving as State Bar of Montana president from 1993 to 1994, Carlson was on the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents from 1993 to 1996. After serving his time on the NCBP Council, Carlson continued his leadership capacities within the American Bar Association.
Carlson was chair of the ABA’s policymaking House of Delegates; served two terms on the ABA Board of Governors and its Executive Committee; served as chair of the ABA Day in Washington, D.C., planning committee; chair of the Standing Committee on Meetings and Travel; member of the Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services; Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession; Council of the ABA Section of International Law; co-chair of the ABA Section of Litigation’s ABA Resource Committee; Board of Governors liaison to the ABA Standing Committee for Bar Services; Dispute Resolution Section and Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.
Carlson was sworn in as president-elect of the ABA in 2017 and became its president in 2018.
In addition to his legal career and his service to the profession, Carlson has served as president and board member for the Butte Exchange Club, member and vice-president of the Butte Uptown Association, and as a member of the University of Montana Alumni Association board, University of Montana Alumni House of Delegates, Board of Directors for the Butte Chapter of the Grizzly Athletic Association member, and Board of Directors for the Butte Country Club. He also has given his time to the Butte Emergency Food Bank.
He and wife Cindy Lee Carlson have three children, nine grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
