Where to go if you want to practice in Alaska? Forum

[fathergoose]

Heard there is a guy out there name Charlie Kelly who has a pretty solid bird law practice.

[2Serious4Numbers]

Forget law school. Just sell all your shit and go live in that van from "into the wild" it will be vastly more enjoyable and seems to be right up you alley... Or you could go to widener, I hear they place really well in Alaska (something about old skool Delaware/Alaska love.. Who knew)

[serdog]

Legally required Canadian tolling
Other option UBC/UofT work in the Canadian North its much nicer

[General Tso]

I too sometimes dream of running away somewhere exotic. But just think...when you get there, you are stuck. And it's not a vacation anymore it's your every day life.

[JakeL]

Northeastern has stronger connections to Alaska than any school outside Washington or Oregon. I know it sounds weird, but it is true. I believe this is largely due to a Northeastern alum who currently sits on the AK Supreme Court and is very active in developing young attorneys. Realistically, just go to any top 100 school, or any school in the 9th circuit, and you will do fine. The logic of "best school you can get into" is not always useful in Alaska. I know numerous attorneys who do hiring in the state who have said they are biased against HYS type people because their heads are in the clouds. UW is held in higher regard than most any other outside school.

I don't know why Duke has the Alaska Law Review, but they do not have meaningful ties to the state beyond that.

My advice for OP:

If you have only visited the state you don't know what it is like to live there. The number of people who come and hate it after a year is not insignificant. Endless light in the summer is great. Winter is very very dark and anyone who says they like it is lying. Lots of people manage to avoid clinical SAD during the winter, but it gets very old.

To be blunt, you sound like someone for whom Alaska exists as some kind of romantic ideal. Lots of people come to the state with such an outlook. Sometimes they get eaten by brown bears they think are their friends, and sometimes they die in a bus in the woods because they thought they were going to go be Thoreau. Most just wind up disappointed. Anchorage and Fairbanks are not "out there."

The places that can be called "out there" with a large enough population to have any lawyers are not fun places to live. If you work in those places you will be doing government work, which means you will be cleaning up the mess that goes with alcoholism, domestic violence, and sexual assault rates several times that found pretty much anywhere else in the country. And if you confront that with the attitude that you will come in and change it, you will meet a very hostile group of locals who resent the notion that an outsider will come in and know how to fix such problems. A woman I know came up from the lower 48 to teach in one of the villages. One of her students killed her dog, skinned it, and nailed it to a tree in front of her house. Do you like hepatitis? You will love western Alaska.

While you won't have your dog nailed to a tree on the road system, we still don't really care very much for outsiders. You will have to spend a number of years there before you are anything more than a goddamned cheechako.

Most Iditarod mushers are assholes.

Alaska is an amazing place. It is my home and I will return after law school. However, the Pipeline days were a long time ago. It's an awful lot harder to just cast off for Alaska and land on your feet than it was in the '70s and '80s. There isn't oil money and cocaine falling out of everyone's pockets like there used to be.

Anyway, if you think I'm being an asshole I'm just trying to do you a favor. If you want to make a legit go of running away to Alaska go get your pilot's license and learn to land on really small bush strips.

+1. From AK as well, would like to go back after school, but this is pretty spot on. Winters can be very harsh, and I don't think there are many people who could handle living in the bush.

[Montevillian]

Legally required Canadian tolling
Other option UBC/UofT work in the Canadian North its much nicer

This actually does not sound like that bad of an option. I don't know much (anything, really) about the Canadian legal system or how saturated the market is up there, but I would assume that working in Canada would offer the same things that interest people about Alaska (the snow, the isolation, the landscape) plus the option of going to larger cities and slightly warmer areas. Plus, they actually do have their own law schools.

[thexfactor]

i think alaska is the only place worst than the midwaste..........
If you want somewhere exotic, choose a place where you wouldn't freeze your balls off if your career doesn't go well.
Look at Hawaii...

[omninode]

Northern Exposure made me think Alaska was cool. Then Grizzly Man and Sarah Palin made me think otherwise.


Seriously though, if you like bitter cold and beautiful wilderness, consider moving to Canada. They have everything Alaska has, but without so many 2nd Amendment nutjobs.


Disclaimer: I have never been to Alaska or non-Ontario Canada. I just have a gut feeling that Alaska will disappoint you.

[JakeL]

I feel like I need to balance this thread out. AK is an amazing place, and if you haven't been there you shouldn't probably say anything negative about it. Even Sarah Palin has been pretty much disowned by the state as far as I can tell, she is not a representation of the average Alaskan. Alaska has at least as much to offer as anywhere in Canada you would go to if looking for adventure. If you are going to go to Canada and live in a place like Vancouver, why wouldn't you just live in Seattle? Alaska is unique because it is so large. The outdoor and wildlife offerings are second to none and whatever suffering you endure in the winter will be rewarded with an amazing summer. It truly is an outdoorsman's paradise. Yes, cost of living is a little higher, but so are average salaries. Anchorage would probably be the best place in the state to live for a young adult, while I think Fairbanks would be better for raising a family. Really though, it's such a big state, it's pretty impossible to compare cities or localities. Fairbanks and Anchorage are totally different from eachother just like both are totally different from Juneau. If you are really interested, you should get a summer job up there, and if you still like it, come back over winter break to confirm that you could see yourself there in the winter.

[thexfactor]

I feel like I need to balance this thread out. AK is an amazing place, and if you haven't been there you shouldn't probably say anything negative about it. Even Sarah Palin has been pretty much disowned by the state as far as I can tell, she is not a representation of the average Alaskan. Alaska has at least as much to offer as anywhere in Canada you would go to if looking for adventure. If you are going to go to Canada and live in a place like Vancouver, why wouldn't you just live in Seattle? Alaska is unique because it is so large. The outdoor and wildlife offerings are second to none and whatever suffering you endure in the winter will be rewarded with an amazing summer. It truly is an outdoorsman's paradise. Yes, cost of living is a little higher, but so are average salaries. Anchorage would probably be the best place in the state to live for a young adult, while I think Fairbanks would be better for raising a family. Really though, it's such a big state, it's pretty impossible to compare cities or localities. Fairbanks and Anchorage are totally different from eachother just like both are totally different from Juneau. If you are really interested, you should get a summer job up there, and if you still like it, come back over winter break to confirm that you could see yourself there in the winter.

I think my gf would break up with me if I told her that I was going to move to fairbanks. lol

[richpepsi]

Seattle University School of Law has a study law in Alaska summer program.

Students from any ABA law school can apply.

[calilaw]

http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/alr/

[NorCalBruin]

Yea don't really want to do that... well kinda... love alaska... just wanted to test the hypothetical

[General Tso]

Yea don't really want to do that... well kinda... love alaska... just wanted to test the hypothetical

you might want to test the Bird Law hypothetical next. you've pretty much tested all the rest

[rebexness]

[gboyle138]

I grew up in AK and got the F out as soon as I could after high school graduation. The only reason I am considering going back is because my dad is the superintendent of a school district and can set me up with an internship/summer employment with the lawyers he hires to do work for his district. Alaska can be absolutely beautiful at times, but there are reasons why the state has incredibly high alcoholism, suicide, and teen pregnancy rates. Last time I checked, we led the union or were pretty damn close in all three. Anchorage is turning into a decent town, and I like Juneau. Other than that, avoid. Unless you like getting into fights with racist, alcoholic Natives.

Edit: That being said, my dad does business with a lot of Gonzaga grads.

[Burgstaller04]

Gonzaga grads are apparently good at dealing with racist, alcoholic Natives.

All I read out of that.

[gboyle138]

Gonzaga grads are apparently good at dealing with racist, alcoholic Natives.

All I read out of that.

Ha. I'm sure they get practice in that area living in Spokane, but note I didn't mention where my dad lives.

[Bosque]

http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/alr/

TITCR

[BeautifulSW]

Gosh, Juneau...35 years ago, I guess, I visited the place in Spring. Very, very lovely but truly major league for isolation. Being from the Seattle region originally (I actually FELT the great Alaska Earthquake as a ten-year-old boy) I have long fantasized about relocating up there. I even have family in Anchorage. Buuuuut....the State of Alaska ranks #1 (or close) in suicide and domestic violence...and a glance at my screen name should indicate how I feel about cold weather!

The comment about getting a pilot license isn't hyperbole.

And I think Treadwell was eaten by grizzlies not brown bears?