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She took the road less traveled to a law career

| January 29, 2025 9:50 AM


When Katherine Troiano was in law school, her classmates would come to her for advice.

“They called me law school Mom,” she said with a smile last week.

Troiano was definitely a non-traditional student. She had 20 years as a paralegal under her belt when four years ago, she decided her career was in a rut and she wanted to go further.

Brian Tanko, her boss at the time and owner of Tanko Law Firm, encouraged her to apply to the University of Montana Law School.

“You get in,” Tanko told her. “We’ll make it work.”

She was accepted. And immediately dove into the mountain of classes and work that goes with law school. Her husband, Tony, watched their children, Dempsey and Joey, while she went to school. She left home on Mondays in the wee hours of the morning and didn’t get home most weeks until late Friday night.

It was a tough row to hoe. She recalled being in class one day when the school nurse called and said Joey, who was in kindergarten, was sick.

Tony was away so she had to drive home and pick up her sick child. The nurse said it was OK and watched the sick boy for 2 ½ hours while Troiano drove home to take care of her son.

“The amount of support the community offered was amazing,” she said.

Her background as a paralegal certainly helped her with her studies and she also garnered an internship with Flathead County Judge Paul Sullivan, which allowed her to study locally, at least for a semester.

Troiano grew up in Missoula and has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and English. She has spent most of her career working in law, including several years as a legal assistant and paralegal with attorney Tom Tornow and then more recently with Tanko Law.

She graduated from UM law school in 2024 and passed the Montana Bar Exam in October.

“Katie’s my partner. This isn’t a situation where I’m expanding,” Tanko said last week at the firm’s new offices on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls. “This was four years in the making.”

The firm specializes in estate planning, wills, trusts, guardianships, business and real estate law.

The firm also welcomed attorney Laurie Marburger to the firm while Troiano was studying at law school. They needed her to help the firm while Troiano was studying.

It’s very much a family atmosphere at the firm. When Troiano was walking across the stage at graduation, Tanko called out to her from high up in the auditorium, “You start on Monday!”

That drew a roar from the crowd.