Chief Justice Mike McGrath was raised in Butte, Montana. He earned a degree in business administration from the University of Montana in 1970 and graduated from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1975. Following graduation from law school he worked as a Reginald Heber Smith Community lawyer fellow in Reno, Nevada, providing legal services to low-income clients.
He served in the United States Air Force from 1970 until an honorable discharge in 1972.
He was a Montana Assistant Attorney General from 1977 to 1982. He was elected Lewis and Clark County Attorney in 1982 to 2000, followed by serving two terms as Montana Attorney General from 2000 through 2008. As Attorney General he oversaw a staff of more than 700 and focused on methamphetamine prevention and natural resource and land issues.
Mike McGrath was elected to an eight-year term as Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court in November, 2008, and took office January 5, 2009. He and his wife Joy have two sons, Pat and Chris, and one granddaughter, Alexis.