List of first women lawyers and judges in Alaska explained

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

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]
• 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
• 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^[15]
• First Indian American (female): Una Gandbhir in 2018^[16]

Federal judges

• First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska): Sharon L. Gleason (1984) in 2012^[17]
• First female (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit): Morgan Christen (1986) in 2012^[18]

• First female: Grace Berg Schaible (1959) from 1987-1989^[19]

United States Attorney

• First female: Karen L. Loeffler from 2009-2017^[20]

District Attorney

• First female: Catherine Stevens (née Bittner Chandler) circa 1960s-1970s^[21]

• First female admitted: Dorothy Awes Haaland (1945)^[22]
• First female (president): Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980^[23]

Firsts in local history

• Dorothy Tyner

First female lawyer in Anchorage, Alaska [<nowiki/>[[Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]]]

• Mahala Ashley Dickerson (1959): First African American female lawyer in Anchorage, Alaska [<nowiki/>[[Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]]]
• Mary Anne Henry:^[24] First female prosecutor in the Anchorage District Attorney's Office (c. 1970s)
• Karen Hunt (1973):^[25] First female appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of Anchorage (1983) [Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]
• Aline Chenot Baskerville Bradley Beegler (1920):^[26] First female lawyer in Fairbanks, Alaska
• Mildred Hermann (1934):^[27] First female lawyer in Juneau, Alaska [<nowiki/>[[Juneau, Alaska|City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska]]]
• Angie Kemp:^[28] First female District Attorney for the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska
• Beverly Cutler: First female judge of the Superior Court of Palmer (1982) [<nowiki/>[[Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska]]]
• Sadie Neakok: First female magistrate in Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska (1960)
• Nora Guinn: 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

Notes and References

1. Book: Cravez, Pamela. The Biggest Damned Hat: Tales from Alaska's Territorial Lawyers and Judges. 2017-04-15. University of Alaska Press. 9781602233171.
2. Web site: Dickerson, Mahala Ashley (1912-2007) The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. www.blackpast.org. 2018-01-20.
3. Web site: Profiles in Change: Names, Notes and Quotes for Alaskan Women - Sadie Neakok. www.alaskool.org. 2018-12-21.
4. Book: United States of American Congressional Record. Government Printing Office. en.
5. Book: Cravez, Pamela . The Biggest Damned Hat: Tales from Alaska's Territorial Lawyers and Judges . 2017-04-15 . University of Alaska Press . 9781602233188 . en.
6. Web site: Tyner, Dorothy Alaska Judicial Council. www.ajc.state.ak.us. 2018-01-09.
7. Web site: Judge Cutler to leave courtroom behind her . 2018-12-21 . Anchorage Daily News . en-US.
8. Web site: Wellner . Andrew . Judge Cutler to hang up robe . 2018-12-21 . Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman . en.
9. Web site: BEVERLY "BEV" CUTLER . PROJECT JUKEBOX: Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program.
10. News: Pamela Scott Washington to be first female African-American District Court of Alaska judge - Green & Gold News. Anchorage. University of Alaska. 2010-11-03. Green & Gold News. 2018-01-09.
11. News: The Hon. Pamela Scott Washington. DeBERRY/Frontiersman. ROBERT. Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. 2018-01-09.
12. Upon her appointment as a Judge of the Alaska Third District
13. Web site: Gov. Walker appoints Herman Walker as Anchorage Superior Court judge. 2015-07-26. Anchorage Daily News. en-US. 2020-01-15.
14. Web site: 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 . 2022-07-22 . Alaska News Source . en.
15. Web site: Gov. Parnell appoints Allard to Court of Appeals. Anchorage Daily News. 2018-01-09.
16. Web site: Verge . Beth . 2022-11-30 . Judge Una Gandbhir, pointing to own experience, says opportunity is abundant within Alaska Court System . 2024-06-05 . Alaska's News Source . en.
17. Web site: Begich Welcomes Senate Approval of Judge Sharon Gleason - Alaska Business Monthly - November 2011 - Anchorage, AK. www.akbizmag.com. 2018-01-03.
18. Web site: Judge Morgan Christen Welcomed to Ninth Circuit. www.ca9.uscourts.gov. 2018-01-09.
19. Web site: Biographical Information for Grace Schaible. American Bar Association. December 1, 2010.
20. Web site: Karen Loeffler Sworn in as Alaska's First Female U.S. Attorney. 2009-12-14. Tickle The Wire. en. 2019-01-03.
21. Web site: Senators' Wives Keep Pace With Washington Demands. May 1, 1984. Fairbanks Daily News Miner Archives. en. 2019-03-27.
22. Web site: 2013-11-04 . Dorothy Awes Haaland Alaska Women's Hall Of Fame . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131104055024/http://alaskawomenshalloffame.org/2011/02/28/dorothy-awes-haaland/ . 2013-11-04 . 2018-12-21.
23. Book: Carter, Terry. Barrister in the Backwoods. May 2003. American Bar Association. en.
24. Web site: Anchorage's first woman prosecutor dies in Oregon. 2011-02-09. Anchorage Daily News. en-US. 2019-03-26.
25. Web site: Womens Hall of Fame Karen L. (Lueck) Hunt » » Alumnae. alaskawomenshalloffame.org. 2018-01-09.
26. Book: Movius, Phyllis Demuth. A Place of Belonging: Five Founding Women of Fairbanks, Alaska. 2010-03-15. University of Alaska Press. 9781602231108. en.
27. Web site: First Women Lawyers in the United States - Women's Legal History. October 6, 2016.
28. Web site: Biographical Statement: Angie Kemp. Alaska Judicial Council.