Samir Aarab is a trial lawyer in Great Falls, Montana. He tries cases to verdict in state and federal court, including a two-week homicide trial that involved more than ninety witnesses. With his law partner, Caitlin Boland Aarab, he persuaded a Cascade County jury to hold one of Montana’s oldest law firms liable for professional negligence, a verdict they won together two years after founding their own firm. Together they also secured one of the largest wrongful death settlements the State of Montana has paid, in a case arising from a jail suicide.

Sam has argued twice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In Nichols v. FDIC he represented a homeowner in a foreclosure that followed the receivership of Washington Mutual after the 2008 financial crisis. In United States v. Kurns he argued a criminal appeal over the evidentiary foundation for a sentencing enhancement. He briefed State v. Zeimer, in which the Montana Supreme Court clarified the limits on how far police may extend a constitutional stop.

Sam was born in Norway and grew up between Norway and Morocco. At nineteen he represented Norway at the International Philosophy Olympiad in Cosenza, Italy. He studied at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, one of the oldest universities in the English-speaking world, earning a degree in International Relations and a master’s in Political Theory. He came to the United States to work in the United States Senate as a policy fellow for Senator Jon Tester.

Sam went to law school at the University of Montana, where he was elected president of the Student Bar Association, served as an editor of the Montana Law Review, and competed on the negotiation team for three years. He worked at the Montana Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection. He clerked for Chief Justice Mike McGrath of the Montana Supreme Court and for Judge Gregory Todd of the Thirteenth Judicial District in Billings.

In 2017 Sam co-founded Boland Aarab PLLP with his wife and law partner, Caitlin Boland Aarab. The firm carries forward the legacy of Great Falls attorney Thomas E. Boland. Sam served two terms as Area D Trustee for the State Bar of Montana.

He is admitted to practice in Montana’s state courts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association and the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Sam and Caitlin are married and have four children.