Montana Supreme Court Allows Former Polson Judge-elect to Practice Law Despite Drug Convictions
Polson attorney Britt Cotter in January received a three-year deferred sentence following a legal saga that began shortly after he was elected in 2024 as a judge to preside over Lake and Sanders counties
By Maggie Dresser
A Polson defense attorney and former judge-elect whose felony drug convictions ultimately blocked his pathway to the bench may continue practicing law, according to a March 17 order by the Montana Supreme Court.
In the order, the justices decided against immediately suspending Kenneth Britton “Britt” Cotter’s license to practice law, writing that the drug convictions will not affect his ability to practice law even as he completes disciplinary proceedings administered by the Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel, a system for regulating lawyers established by the Montana Supreme Court. The proceedings against Cotter, which are in addition to his criminal sentence, stem from his January 2026 conviction of three felony cocaine charges in Lake County District Court.
Cotter is serving a three-year deferred imposition of sentence for the drug offenses after pleading guilty in November 2025 to one count of solicitation to commit criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and two counts of attempted criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
During the January sentencing hearing, Ravalli County District Court Judge Jennifer Lint was sympathetic to Cotter and expressed support for his effort to retain his license.
“The Defendant let the devil of addiction get on his back and went down a terrible path. He broke the law, abandoned his morals, and likely violated his professional responsibility,” Lint said at Cotter’s sentencing hearing. “Then he stopped and came here and took accountability … For that reason, he deserves to remain in the community, to have a deferred sentence, and the opportunity to have these felonies off his record and keep his law license.”
The justices cited Lint’s comments in their order, as well as Cotter’s efforts to recover from addiction.
“In light of the sentencing court’s remarks and Cotter’s commitment to address his addiction and continue to serve his community in the practice of law, the Court determines that Cotter’s actions demonstrate that, under the circumstances, the convictions will not adversely affect his ability to practice law so as to require the immediate interim suspension of his license,” according to the order.
In January 2025, Cotter was slated to take the bench as Montana’s 20th Judicial District Court judge, representing Lake and Sanders counties, after he was the uncontested winner of the November 2024 election for the Lake County District Court judge position. After the allegations surfaced against Cotter, he notified Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath in a Dec. 22, 2024, resignation letter that he would not proceed with taking the oath of office.
The criminal case by the Montana Attorney General’s Office and the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) included allegations that Cotter bought or attempted to buy cocaine from an individual on multiple occasions over a roughly 14-month period beginning in March 2022.
Following Cotter’s convictions, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a petition asking the Montana Supreme Court to determine whether Cotter’s license should be immediately suspended.
Cotter’s defense attorney, Colin Stephens, submitted a response requesting that the court not impose an immediate interim suspension on the grounds that Cotter cooperated with authorities, accepted responsibility in the criminal proceeding and has discontinued his drug use. He also said Cotter has an otherwise unblemished 20-year legal career, which includes representing indigent and Indigenous criminal defendants.
Justices Beth Baker, Laurie McKinnon, Katherine Bidegaray, and Ingrid Gustafson signed the order, with Chief Justice Cory Swanson and Justice Jim Shea recusing themselves.
As the lone dissenter, Justice Jim Rice cited the Office of Disciplinary Counsel’s governing standard that a lawyer “was found guilty of a criminal offense” affecting the lawyer’s ability to practice law, arguing Cotter’s three felony convictions satisfy the standard.
“The standard does not ask whether the lawyer has since acknowledged his error and is undertaking the honorable task of
recovery,” Rice wrote, arguing that Cotter was both practicing law and running for the judiciary while he committed crimes and demonstrated a “reckless lack of judgment, honesty and integrity.”
Rice was also critical of the lower court’s logic for imposing a deferred sentence.
“The District Court’s basis for its light criminal sentence was that ‘Addiction and substance abuse runs thick in the legal community.’ Really — this was the basis for the sentence?” Rice wrote. “While there are indeed those in the legal profession that unfortunately succumb to substance abuse — as those in other professions do — I am not willing to accept a declaration that it ‘runs thick in the legal community,’ and certainly would not be willing to accept such hyperbolic reasoning as justifying either the respondent’s criminal behavior or qualifying as a departure from those standards we are to apply.”