Elizabeth A. Kaleva is from Missoula, Montana, where she graduated from Loyola Sacred Heart High School in 1987. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Boston College in 1991. Bea graduated from the University of Montana School of Law in 1995 and, after graduation, clerked for a judge for year before joining the Montana School Boards Association as a staff attorney. She rose to the General Counsel position and remained with the MTSBA until 2004, when she returned to Missoula in private practice. Bea serves as counsel for school districts in all areas of employment and school law. Specific practice areas include: contract negotiations, employee misconduct and discipline, student misconduct and discipline, special education and federal programs, and Board of Trustees practice and procedure. She provides litigation defense to school districts and their employees in federal and state courts, arbitrations, and administrative agencies relating to all aspects of school district operations.
Bea is admitted to practice before all Montana courts, the United States District Courts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Council of School Attorneys, the Montana Council of School attorneys, a former Board member of the National Council of School Attorneys and is the President of the School Law Section of the Montana State Bar. She has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America since 2014 for the areas of education law and employment law, and was named the Best Employment Law Lawyer for the Missoula area in 2015 and 2019.
In 2021, Elizabeth was honored with the AV Preeminent® Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®. This rating is the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards.
