New law firm has roots in Whitefish Trail

Their professional relationship was hatched on the Whitefish Trail. Now, local attorneys Diane Conradi and John Anderson are ready to act as trail guides for businesses navigating the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship.

The idea to launch the Conradi-Anderson business law firm came last year after the duo worked together on complicated land transactions regarding the Whitefish Trail.

As a city councilman and former attorney at the Kaufman, Vidal, Hileman firm in Kalispell, Anderson was designated to work on the trail transaction as the city’s negotiator. Conradi represented Whitefish Legacy Partners in the land deal for nearly a decade.

“Negotiating with the state and DNRC was as complicated and as challenging as any transaction I’ve ever done,” Anderson said. “At a certain point, there a people you begin to count on in a transaction, and I learned Diane was one of those people you could lean on.”

Conradi says Anderson’s business experience and her land-use expertise played off each other while working on trail issues. Anderson was able to look past contract jargon, she said, and see how certain decisions play out in “real life.”

“What we had at the table were a lot of government lawyers who didn’t have the experience of seeing how things play out in the real world,” Conradi said. “John’s background was super critical.”

“We realized we had different approaches and backgrounds that worked really well together.”

At their new office on Spokane Avenue, the firm will take on clients looking to navigate the sometimes complicated world of business.

Conradi specializes in preparing a company for growth.

“Getting things in the right place at the beginning, so as you grow, you’re ready to deal with the problematic things that are bound to come along in every business,” Anderson explained.

Too often, Conradi says, people wait to call an attorney until after disaster strikes.

Anderson, on the other hand, brings a business operations perspective.

“I’ve been involved in all phases of business, from starting them up to selling them off,” Anderson said. “I think we can help people see what they’re doing and how it will affect them.”

His area of expertise is technology.

“Technology is the great equalizer out West,” he said. “Those businesses that succeed going forward have to understand how technology and business are going to behave.”

The firm will host an open house Friday, June 7 from 5-7 p.m. at their office at 307 Spokane, Ave.