John ("Buzz") Tarlow

Buzz Tarlow is a founding member of Tarlow Stonecipher Weamer & Kelly, PLLC. He became “Of Counsel” to the firm at the end of 2020 and no longer represents individual clients.

His career in private practice was primarily in construction law. He represented owners, contractors, architects, insurance companies, engineers, suppliers, and subcontractors. He was involved in many types of transactional matters including construction contracting, licensing, compliance with state and federal regulations and financing. Additionally, he worked in Montana and many western states in almost every type of dispute resolution existing in the construction industry including trials, arbitrations, mediations, and dispute review boards.

He also represented victims of construction, automobile and aviation accidents.

Currently, Buzz is an active mediator and arbitrator in Montana and surrounding states. He has been involved in hundreds of mediations and arbitrations as both counsel and as a neutral.

Buzz brings significant credentials to his mediation and arbitration practice including the following trainings and certifications: He is a member of the Construction Panel of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association, the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The law firm provides scheduling and logistic support for his mediations and arbitrations.

He has been recognized by Super Lawyers in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution and holds an AV Rating from Martindale-Hubbel.

Buzz is the only lawyer practicing in the State of Montana to be elected as a Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers. For nearly ten years he served as an adjunct professor at Montana State University College of Engineering teaching construction law. He has testified before various committees of the State of Montana legislature
on construction related matters.

He is the founder of the Montana State Bar Construction Law Section and the Montana Construction Law Institute (an annual construction law conference sponsored by the State Bar of Montana). He has also held a variety of national leadership positions in the American Bar Association Forum on Construction Law.

Buzz is the creator and former host of the ABA Forum on Construction Law’s podcast “Construction Law Today” which is the most downloaded podcast of its type in the United States.

He has spoken at numerous state-wide and national construction law conferences and has written extensively in the field.

EDUCATION

• University of Connecticut (B.A., cum laude, with distinction in Economics, 1981)
• Boston University (J.D., 1985)

• Vermont and U.S. District Court, District of Vermont, 1986 (inactive)
• Montana and U.S. District Court, District of Montana, 1989
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1990
• American Bar Association (Member, Forum on the Construction Industry)
• American Bar Foundation (Fellow)
• State Bar of Montana (Founder, Construction Law Section; Chairman, 2005-2006)
• Montana Trial Lawyers Association; Gallatin County Bar Association
• Founder, Montana Construction Law Institute
• American College of Construction Lawyers (Member, Board of Governors 2014-2016)
• American Arbitration Association Panel Member
• Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

$400 per hour for preparation time and meeting time.

$200 per hour for reasonable travel time when appropriate.