List of first women lawyers and judges in Alaska

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Alaska. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Alaska's history

 

Sharon L. Gleason: First female Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska (2012)

 

Morgan Christen: First female Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2012)

Lawyers

• First female: Nathalena "Natalie" Roberts Moore (1908)^[1]
• First African American female: Mahala Ashley Dickerson (1959)^[2]

State judges

• First (Inupiaq) female magistrate: Sadie Neakok in 1960^[3][4]
• First Alaska Native female (district court): Nora Guinn in 1967^[5]
• First females: Dorothy Tyner and Mary Alice Miller in 1968^[6][1]
• First female (Superior Court of Alaska): Beverly Cutler in 1982^[7][8][9]
• First female (Alaska Supreme Court/Chief Justice): Dana Fabe (1976) beginning in 1996^[1]
• First African American female: Pamela Scott Washington (1991) in 2010^[10][11][12]
• First Asian American female: Jo-Ann Chung in 2011^{[13] [14]}
• First female (Alaska Court of Appeals): Marjorie Allard (1999) in 2012^[1][15]

Federal judges

• First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska): Sharon L. Gleason (1984) in 2012^[16]
• First female (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit): Morgan Christen (1986) in 2012^[17]

Attorney General of Alaska

• First female: Grace Berg Schaible (1959) from 1987-1989^[18]

United States Attorney

• First female: Karen L. Loeffler from 2009-2017^[19]

District Attorney

• First female: Catherine Stevens (née Bittner Chandler) circa 1960s-1970s^[20]

Alaska Bar Association

• First female admitted: Dorothy Awes Haaland (1945)^[21]
• First female (president): Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980^[22]

Firsts in local history

• Dorothy Tyner:^[6][1] First female lawyer in Anchorage, Alaska [Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]
• Mahala Ashley Dickerson (1959):^[2] First African American female lawyer in Anchorage, Alaska [Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]
• Mary Anne Henry:^[23] First female prosecutor in the Anchorage District Attorney's Office (c. 1970s)
• Karen Hunt (1973):^[1][24] First female appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of Anchorage (1983) [Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]

• Aline Chenot Baskerville Bradley Beegler (1920):^[5][25] First female lawyer in Fairbanks, Alaska

• Mildred Hermann (1934):^[26] First female lawyer in Juneau, Alaska [City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska]
• Angie Kemp:^[27] First female District Attorney for the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska

• Beverly Cutler:^[7][8][9] First female judge of the Superior Court of Palmer (1982) [Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska]

• Sadie Neakok:^[3][4] First female magistrate in Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska (1960)

• Nora Guinn:^[5] First Alaska Native female (non-attorney) to serve as a magistrate of Bethel, Alaska (1959)

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• Timeline of women lawyers in the United States
• Women in law

Other topics of interest

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Alaska

References

1. Cravez, Pamela (2017-04-15). The Biggest Damned Hat: Tales from Alaska's Territorial Lawyers and Judges. University of Alaska Press. ISBN 9781602233171.
2. "Dickerson, Mahala Ashley (1912-2007) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". www.blackpast.org. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
3. "Profiles in Change: Names, Notes and Quotes for Alaskan Women - Sadie Neakok". www.alaskool.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
4. United States of American Congressional Record. Government Printing Office.
5. Cravez, Pamela (2017-04-15). The Biggest Damned Hat: Tales from Alaska's Territorial Lawyers and Judges. University of Alaska Press. ISBN 9781602233188.
6. "Tyner, Dorothy | Alaska Judicial Council". www.ajc.state.ak.us. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
7. "Judge Cutler to leave courtroom behind her". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
8. Wellner, Andrew. "Judge Cutler to hang up robe". Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
9. "BEVERLY "BEV" CUTLER". PROJECT JUKEBOX: Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program.
10. Anchorage, University of Alaska (2010-11-03). "Pamela Scott Washington to be first female African-American District Court of Alaska judge - Green & Gold News". Green & Gold News. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
11. DeBERRY/Frontiersman, ROBERT. "The Hon. Pamela Scott Washington". Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
12. Upon her appointment as a Judge of the Alaska Third District
13. "Gov. Walker appoints Herman Walker as Anchorage Superior Court judge". Anchorage Daily News. 2015-07-26. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
14. Verge, Beth. "'There's no one like me on the bench': Alaska's first Asian American woman to be sitting judge talks getting out of comfort zone". Alaska News Source. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
15. "Gov. Parnell appoints Allard to Court of Appeals". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
16. "Begich Welcomes Senate Approval of Judge Sharon Gleason - Alaska Business Monthly - November 2011 - Anchorage, AK". www.akbizmag.com. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
17. "Judge Morgan Christen Welcomed to Ninth Circuit". www.ca9.uscourts.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
18. "Biographical Information for Grace Schaible" (PDF). American Bar Association. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
19. "Karen Loeffler Sworn in as Alaska's First Female U.S. Attorney". Tickle The Wire. 2009-12-14. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
20. "Senators' Wives Keep Pace With Washington Demands". Fairbanks Daily News Miner Archives. May 1, 1984. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
21. . 2013-11-04. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
22. Carter, Terry (May 2003). Barrister in the Backwoods. American Bar Association.
23. "Anchorage's first woman prosecutor dies in Oregon". Anchorage Daily News. 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
24. "Womens Hall of Fame Karen L. (Lueck) Hunt » » Alumnae". alaskawomenshalloffame.org. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
25. Movius, Phyllis Demuth (2010-03-15). A Place of Belonging: Five Founding Women of Fairbanks, Alaska. University of Alaska Press. ISBN 9781602231108.
26. "First Women Lawyers in the United States - Women's Legal History" (PDF). Retrieved October 6, 2016.
27. "Biographical Statement: Angie Kemp" (PDF). Alaska Judicial Council.