Danielle Bailey, executive director of the Alaska Bar Association. The AK Bar is the regulatory agency responsible for the admission and discipline process of attorneys in the state. It supports the professional development of its members through programs and events while promoting access to justice across Alaska. Bailey provided KBBI with some of the recent events and activities at the Bar.
The association is actively engaging in outreach to rural areas, hosting CLEs and tours of courthouses in Sitka, Juneau, Kodiak, Kenai, and Homer. In early 2025, they partnered with the Alaska Native Justice Center to create a Law and Culture series, and was awarded the national LexisNexis outreach award for bars under 18,000 members and Alaska has less than 5,000. Bailey explained more:
We've been trying to meet with a lot of the Alaska Native tribes while they're here, knowing that they have travel courts and that while it might not be, it may not be licensed attorneys, that those courts are official and a lot of our attorneys practice, they're still wanting to know, like, what do our we need to teach our attorneys about practicing in their tribal courts?
At the lunch meeting, Bailey addressed approximately 30 Peninsula lawyers with three main topics:
- Seeking ways to increase the number of lawyers in the state of Alaska.
- Increasing Alaska Native representation.
- A few years ago, we did start a diversity commission which looked into some of those barriers and obstacles that we've had, and then recommended some action items for that.
Benefits of Alaska lawyers or emeritus lawyers benefits to providing pro-bono work. This was presented by Leah McKenna, Pro Bono Director.
- “So it allows you to do pro bono work for one of our qualified legal services providers, and then in that emeritus of training status, that means if you do work for one of those providers, then your bar dues are waived the following year.
- One of our greatest needs right now is, in Alaska, free legal answers.
Finally, lawyer Phil Shanahan provided an ethics presentation. In summary, the Bar Association has issued numerous ethics opinions, including on AI use, client fund protection, and lawyer impairment. They are also addressing AI legislative threats to the judicial system. The Bar Association is developing a new three-year strategic plan, and members are encouraged to provide input. A CLE on teaching attorneys about the rule of law and judicial selection was proposed. The Alaska Bar Association will be offering free ethics advice and legal workshops. At the conclusion of the meeting, attendees introduced themselves and included: judges, attorneys, and community members, highlighting the diverse participation and the need for collaboration in legal education and community service.
