Our Team
Caitlin T. Pabst, Attorney
Caitlin Pabst is an attorney and the founder and owner of Pabst Law Firm. Caitlin is passionate about helping clients navigate and resolve their complex legal issues. She understands that legal disputes, especially family law disputes, can be emotional and stressful, and strives to guide her clients through the legal process with an empathetic and informative approach. She takes great care in maintaining a high level of advocacy and professionalism in each of her cases both in and out of the courtroom.
Caitlin grew-up in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, and later moved to Chicago, Illinois where she graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (UIUC) in 2011 with bachelor’s degree in political science. Caitlin went on to earn her law degree from The John Marshall Law School at University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) in 2014, where she spent time in the Business Enterprise Law Clinic helping individuals from underserved communities start and grow their own businesses. Caitlin moved to Montana in 2016. Caitlin’s practice primarily focuses on family law, estate planning and civil litigation.
Outside the office, you can find Caitlin spending her time skiing, mountain biking, hiking with her two black labs, and attempting to fly fish. She also enjoys playing the piano and reading a good book (recommendations welcome).
Caitlin is licensed in Montana (2017) and Illinois (2015).
Admissions/Membership:
Montana Bar Association
United States District Court, District of Montana
Gallatin County Bar Association
Montana Fifth Judicial District Bar Association
Illinois State Bar Association
United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Chicago Bar Association
Nathan A. Smith, Associate Attorney
Raised in Billings, Montana, Nathan received his B.A. in Spanish from the University of Utah, and later spent two years abroad living in Chile. Nathan obtained his Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University of New York. Nathan has since returned to Montana to practice law. Nathan’s focus is family law and estate planning. In his spare time, Nathan enjoys challenging himself to train and compete in triathlons and other superhuman feats.
ADMISSIONS/MEMBERSHIPS
State Bar of Montana
Gallatin County Bar Association
Montana Fifth Judicial District Bar Association
Steven E. Goodson, Of Counsel
Steven began his professional career in the law on January 15, 1985 as a clerk at a maritime law firm in Houston, Texas following three years teaching Latin and English at a public high school. After graduating law school in 1987, Steven enjoyed a 25-year run as a prominent Texas trial attorney practicing primarily maritime, insurance and oilfield law on behalf of major oil companies including BP and ExxonMobil and insurance companies based mostly in London and New York City. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease on April 15, 2011, Steven left his fulltime law practice and reinvented himself as an artist and volunteer. After first coming to Montana in June of 2018, Steven decided that his legal life was not over and took the February 2021 Montana Bar Exam. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Steven has returned to the near fulltime practice of law and now handles a broad variety of legal matters from commercial to domestic. Steven has been appointed as mediator by local courts and offers those services, as well. In addition to Montana, Steven is also licensed in Texas (1987) and Washington State (2022). When not in the office, Steven will often be found in one of Montana’s rivers in his waders with a fly rod, tricking fish.
ADMISSIONS/MEMBERSHIPS:
State Bar of Montana
State Bar of Texas
Washington State Bar Association
United States District Court, District of Montana
Maritime Law Association of the United States
Montana Fifth Judicial District Bar Association
Gallatin County Bar Association
Bull Mountain Rural Fire District (Trustee); Boulder/Bull Mountain Fire Departments (Volunteer Firefighter); Trout Unlimited (Life Member); Ducks Unlimited (Supporter)
Chris Bly, Paralegal
Chris Bly has come full circle since he graduated from paralegal school in 1992 in Los Angeles, CA. After working for a large, corporate law firm in Santa Monica, he decided that he was more interested in social work at that stage of his life. While working for various adolescent runaway shelters, a gang abatement program, and the L.A. Free Clinic, he went back to school to pursue a B.A. in psychology at the age of 30. After graduation from Cal State Northridge, Chris became an elementary school teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District teaching 3rd and 5th graders, while at the same time attending night school to earn his teaching credentials.
While working and attending school, Chris became heavily involved in volunteering. He spent most of his volunteer time at the Wildlife Waystation in the foothills of Los Angeles, where he met his future wife, Miranda. At WW, Chris and Miranda gave tours of the facility, helped build and repair animal enclosures, and provided animal enrichment by training, walking, and interacting various animals, such raccoons, mountain lions, coyotes, opossums, birds of prey, and the occasional lion or tiger (pictures available upon request). It was during this time that Chris and Miranda started following the reintroduction of the wolves in Yellowstone.
After falling in love with Montana, Chris and Miranda moved here in 2006 where Chris worked for Child and Family Services investigating child abuse and neglect reports for for over 15 years. Chris applies his eclectic background, compassion for people, and immense knowledge of family dynamics to his work as a paralegal.
