Prior to his first run for district court judge in 2012, Robert Allison was at a crossroads.  

The Flathead Valley native had been an attorney for 37 years by then. Opening a general civil practice in 1975 after a stint in the Army National Guard and graduating from the University of Montana Law School, Allison had handled an array of legal matters, including family law matters, probate, and juvenile and dependent neglect cases. He also served as chief public defender from 1998 to 2006 after working as a part-time public defender earlier in his career.  And he felt burnt out.  

"I'd never really thought I'd wanted to be a judge," Allison said in mid-December, ahead of his impending retirement after two terms on the bench at Flathead County District Court. "Kind of about the time I turned 60 I just thought I don't really want to continue doing what I'm doing." 

He already had decided to make what he described as "drastic changes" to his practice. It was time to reassess, he recalled while sitting in an unused jury room on the third floor of the Flathead County Justice Center. He planned to limit the scope of his legal work; cut out the aspects of it he no longer enjoyed. 

"... I just thought, 'I don't really want to continue doing what I'm doing,'" Allison said. "What can I do differently that will allow me to use my experience but not require me to practice?" 

Then two sitting judges, Stewart Stadler and Kitty Curtis, opted against seeking reelection.  

"I just decided I wanted to try doing something else for the last few years of my career," Allison said.  

He ended up running against fellow attorney Bruce Fredrickson and another future judge, Dan Wilson, who was Flathead County justice of the peace at the time. Allison said he and Wilson became good friends after Wilson won a judgeship in 2016.  

Allison remembered turning 63 as he prepared to take the bench and telling friends he expected to finish after one term as a district court judge.  

"But at the end of the term, I felt I was just figuring it out," he remembered.  

GIVEN THE wide scope of his private practice and his frequent courtroom appearances, Allison suspected he would adjust quickly. He admits he was mistaken.  

"When you see it from the other side of the bench, things look very different," he said. "I kinda thought I'd seen it all and then I got up here and every day something was happening that I'd never saw before. The breadth of stuff we deal with is almost unimaginable." 

"Search warrants, subpoenas, a lot of the evidentiary stuff," Allison added. "And we're generalists in Montana ... [judges] do everything." 

He presided over a civil jury trial after one week on the bench — there was no gentle acclimation. But it was straightforward, and the attorneys involved proved helpful as he got settled, he recalled. 

Then there was the anxiety of donning the robe and taking the seat perched over the courtroom, which Allison recalled being "nerve-wracking at times." And then came the decisions.  

"Some of the decisions you have to make are truly difficult, and you agonize over them," he said. 

He recalled fondly a program former Judge Robert Sykes ran for community groups during his tenure on the bench between 1967 and 1983, known as “You Be The Judge.” Sykes presented his participants with a case, walking them through each step of the judicial process and forcing them to reckon with new evidence and information along the way — mimicking how it feels to preside over an unfolding case, Allison said. At the end, participating laypeople handed down a sentence of their choosing.  

By then they were often singing the defendant’s praises, Allison recalled.  

THOUGH CONFIDENT he is putting the finishing touches on a good, worthwhile career, he looks forward to taking a step back.  

“I’m basically going to do nothing for the next six months,” he said before preemptively waving away what he anticipates will be the next question. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to be a recluse. I’m going to spend time with friends and family and see how it feels to not be working.” 

Having taken his first job at 16, Allison figures he deserves a respite. He also hopes to rekindle his social life. Being a judge can put a damper on it, he said. 

Allison recalled a moment before he became a judge, when he was still a burnt-out public defender. He remembered feeling beleaguered; it seemed like everyone around him was dealing with intense personal crises. All in all, it had left him with a rather low opinion of humanity, he said.  

It was Christmastime, though, and he remembered walking into a Walmart. He looked up and saw a sea of faces, faces he didn’t recognize. All these people who had no interaction with the criminal justice system.  

Soon enough he’ll be in that crowd.  

“I’m going to try to be a nobody,” he said. “And not see my name in the paper every couple of days.” 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or [email protected].