00                   HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 14                                                                   
01 Supporting the creation of a school of law within the University of Alaska.                                             
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS Alaska is the only state in the United States that does not have a law                                  
04 school; and                                                                                                             
05       WHEREAS the state has a unique legal landscape that includes disputes around                                    
06 extracting resources, commercial and recreational fishing, tribal sovereignty, and subsistence                          
07 rights; and                                                                                                             
08       WHEREAS a 10-year analysis recently published in the Alaska Business magazine                                   
09 showed a 240 percent increase in the number of retired attorneys in the state, as well as an                            
10 increase in the number of attorneys practicing in the state who are located outside of the state;                       
11 and                                                                                                                     
12       WHEREAS the state has a particular need for attorneys with knowledge of the state's                             
13 unique legal landscape, particularly in rural areas of the state and among underserved                                  
14 populations; and                                                                                                        
15       WHEREAS 35 percent of the state's population is Black, Indigenous, and People of                                
16 Color (BIPOC), yet only six percent of attorneys practicing in the state are BIPOC; and                                 

01 WHEREAS, on June 8, 2020, the Alaska Supreme Court released a statement reading                                       
02 "We recognize that too often African-Americans, Alaska Natives, and other people of color                               
03 are not treated with the same dignity and respect as white members of our communities" and                              
04 "We must also work to attract more people of color to the practice of law and, ultimately, to                           
05 judicial careers"; and                                                                                                  
06       WHEREAS nine percent of sitting judges in the state are BIPOC; and                                              
07       WHEREAS, when BIPOC attorneys have applied for judgeships, they have been                                       
08 nominated for selection by the Alaska Judicial Council at similar rates to nomination of non-                           
09 BIPOC applicants; and                                                                                                   
10 WHEREAS the Alaska Judicial Council has adopted a bylaw stating, "The Council                                         
11 shall actively encourage qualified members of the bar to seek nomination to such offices,                               
12 making every effort to promote diversity, including gender and ethnic diversity, and shall                              
13 strive to inform the public of Alaska's judicial and public defender selection process"; and                            
14 WHEREAS, in 2018, members of the Alaska Federation of Natives, by way of a                                          
15 resolution, called on the Alaska Judicial Council to conduct a study of charging and                                    
16 sentencing disparities in cases involving non-Native offenders and Native victims in                                    
17 comparison to Native offenders and non-Native victims; and                                                              
18 WHEREAS the 2010 report of the American Bar Association on diversity in the legal                                     
19 profession concluded, "The overarching message is that a diverse legal profession is more                               
20 just, productive and intelligent because diversity, both cognitive and cultural, often leads to                         
21 better questions, analysis, solutions, and processes"; and                                                              
22 WHEREAS, in May of 2021, the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association                                         
23 approved a Diversity Initiative Resolution that created the Diversity Commission to                                     
24 investigate the lack of diversity in the membership of the Alaska Bar Association with the                              
25 goal of increasing the number of BIPOC attorney members in the Alaska Bar Association;                                  
26 and                                                                                                                     
27 WHEREAS the Diversity Commission surveyed members of the Alaska Bar                                                   
28 Association, and members surveyed responded that representation matters, that the                                       
29 membership of both the makeup of judges and attorneys should resemble the communities the                               
30 members serve to offer differing perspectives and promote trust and confidence in the justice                           
31 system, and that racial and ethnic diversity is either important or very important to the                               

01 profession of law; and                                                                                                  
02       WHEREAS, one respondent to the survey noted, "There is no law school in Alaska,                                 
03 greatly increasing the cost of attending law school, meaning few Alaskans will attend law                               
04 school and return to practice in Alaska"; and                                                                           
05 WHEREAS the Diversity Commission report identified the lack of a law school in                                        
06 the state as a systemic barrier to diversification and concluded that creating a well-funded law                        
07 school accredited by the American Bar Association or a law school partnership with an                                   
08 existing law school is a first step to increasing the diversity of the membership of the Alaska                         
09 Bar Association; and                                                                                                    
10 WHEREAS, during a House Finance Subcommittee meeting on February 9, 2024,                                             
11 representatives from the Department of Administration reported that the legal field is                                  
12 experiencing recruitment challenges, including challenges recruiting legal interns because of                           
13 the state's lack of a law school; and                                                                                   
14 WHEREAS the Willamette University College of Law has a Direct Admission                                               
15 Program for students at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University of Alaska                                    
16 Fairbanks, and the University of Alaska Southeast in which a student completes four years of                            
17 undergraduate work at one of the Alaska universities and, if certain conditions are met, the                            
18 student gains guaranteed admission to Willamette Law for three years of law school; and                                 
19 WHEREAS the Mitchell Hamline School of Law has a Direct Admission Program for                                         
20 students at the University of Alaska Anchorage, in which a student completes four years of                              
21 undergraduate work at University of Alaska Anchorage and, if certain conditions are met, the                            
22 student gains guaranteed admission to Mitchell Hamline School of Law for three years of law                             
23 school, which includes a blended learning model that allows students to complete most of                                
24 their coursework remotely while in the state; and                                                                       
25 WHEREAS Alaska Pacific University has signed an agreement with Seattle                                                
26 University to offer an MBA-JD dual degree in which a student completes a Master of                                      
27 Business Administration in Anchorage and a Juris Doctor degree in Anchorage and Seattle;                                
28 and                                                                                                                     
29 WHEREAS the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center has proposed a                                              
30 University of Alaska Anchorage Law School and has developed a concept proposal that                                     
31 would enable the legal education of a student to be tailored for the state's legal and economic                         

01 development needs;                                                                                                      
02       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the University of Alaska                                 
03 Anchorage to undertake a feasibility study of the University of Alaska Anchorage Law School                             
04 concept proposal; and be it                                                                                             
05 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the University of                                            
06 Alaska Anchorage to initiate a law school partnership with an existing law school accredited                            
07 by the American Bar Association that would offer remote student learning opportunities                                  
08 paired with one-week or two-week campus visits during the semester; and be it                                           
09       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the University of                                      
10 Alaska Anchorage to use a law school partnership as an opportunity to expand into a small,                              
11 financially sustainable law school that would enable students to complete law school while                              
12 living in the state.