Growing up in Dillon, Judge Berger attended Parkview Elementary, Dillon Middle School, and Beaverhead County High School. In his free time, he explored Beaverhead County by hunting and camping with his family and friends. During high school, he played football and golf and was a manager for the basketball team.

After graduating from high school, he attended Carroll College, majoring in Philosophy. During the summers, he returned to Dillon and worked for the Forest Service performing fish and stream surveys. This opportunity allowed him to explore the headwaters of streams in the Big Hole, Centennial, and Medicine Lodge valleys. During college, he participated in spring break service trips, volunteering in soup kitchens, schools, and domestic violence centers.

There is no place like home

After graduating from Carroll, the Judge joined AmeriCorps and volunteered in Baltimore, Maryland for a year with Catholic Charities where he helped run the volunteer program at one the largest soup kitchens on the east coast.

Judge Berger returned home and attended law school at the University of Montana. He was a member of the Rural Advocacy League and was elected Student Bar Association president his third year of law school.

After entering the practice of law, Berger was elected to three terms on the Board of Trustees with the Montana State Bar Association and was elected Chair of the Board in the fall of 2016. He served on the board of trustees for the Friendship Center, a domestic violence center. Berger was also a member of the local mental health advisory committee and lectured on mental health law.

In 2014 he was named the Carroll College “Young Alumni of the Year” and in 2017 he received a “Distinguished Service Award” from the Montana State Bar Association.

In October of 2016, he applied to fill the remaining two years of Judge Loren Tucker’s judicial seat. His name was unanimously sent to the Governor after interviewing with the Judicial Nomination Commission.

Judge Berger is married to Alexis Sandru, a Twin Bridges native, and the couple have three children: Ambrose, Alexander, and Adelaide. They reside in the heart of the district near Silver Star and a short distance from Alexis’s family’s cattle ranch.

In his free time, he enjoys watching high school and college sports, bird hunting, discussing the history of Montana, and, most importantly, spending time with his family.

"A good judge needs to possess compassion and understanding for those who appear before the court."