Her Story
About Bekki
Bekki McLean serves as Chief Prosecutor for the City of Bozeman, a role she has held for eight years. With 17 years of experience as an attorney, her primary focus is criminal prosecution. In this capacity, she oversees the prosecution of all misdemeanor criminal activity within the city limits and on the university campus while also managing a team of lawyers. Prior to her current position, McLean worked in private practice from 2009 to 2015, where she handled cases on the defense side as well as prosecution contracts. This experience helped solidify her commitment to public service and criminal prosecution as her chosen path. She attributes her success to a supportive family, including a brother who is also a lawyer and with whom she attended law school, along with hard work and resilience. McLean emphasizes that honesty and integrity are paramount values that guide her practice, and she strives to embody honesty, loyalty, and fairness in both her professional and personal life. She balances her demanding career with raising two young children.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Bekki
01What do you attribute your success to?
I had a very supportive family. I have a very supportive brother who is also a lawyer, and so having him as a resource has been invaluable. We went through law school together. He's kind of been my sounding board for everything. Having someone that you can trust and that you know has the same values and judgment as you when you get yourself into situations that you're unsure about, I think that's been something that has been a guide to me throughout my career. I think the other thing is, like, just hard work. Resilience. This profession takes a lot of that. An unwillingness to give up, to keep going, even when things are difficult.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think probably, and this has been true no matter what my role has been, but your honesty and integrity are paramount, and there shouldn't be a compromise ever to those two values. And that has really guided how I practice. No matter what field I've been in, but especially in this role.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think, you know, keeping up with the population growth, continuing to, you know, in my current role, managing the day-to-day tasks, but also managing the people, like, trying to split that, find that balance, I guess. Has been incredibly difficult, but yeah, I think government, there's always, we have a great employer, the City of Bozeman's very generous employer, but, having enough resources to do all the things that we want to do is always a consideration, always something that we're trying to think through.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Definitely honesty. I'm honesty, loyalty, and fairness. I try to take those to all facets of my life. I don't know how to be anything other than honest, so I think that comes pretty naturally to me, makes things pretty easy, too. But yeah, definitely those three.
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