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

Lawyers

First female: Nathalena "Natalie" Roberts Moore (1908)
First African American (female): Mahala Ashley Dickerson (1959)

State judges

First (Inupiaq) female magistrate: Sadie Neakok in 1960
First Alaska Native female (district court): Nora Guinn in 1967
First females: Dorothy Tyner and Mary Alice Miller in 1968
First female (Superior Court of Alaska): Beverly Cutler in 1982
First female (Alaska Supreme Court/Chief Justice): Dana Fabe (1976) beginning in 1996
First African American female: Pamela Scott Washington (1991) in 2010
First Asian American female: Jo-Ann Chung in 2011
First female (Alaska Court of Appeals): Marjorie Allard (1999) in 2012
First Indian American (female): Una Gandbhir in 2018

Federal judges

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

Attorney General of Alaska

First female: Grace Berg Schaible (1959) from 1987-1989

United States Attorney

First female: Karen L. Loeffler from 2009-2017

District Attorney

Alaska Bar Association

First female (president): Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980

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: First female prosecutor in the Anchorage District Attorney's Office (c. 1970s)
Karen Hunt (1973): First female appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of Anchorage (1983) [Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska]
Aline Chenot Baskerville Bradley Beegler (1920): First female lawyer in Fairbanks, Alaska
Mildred Hermann (1934): First female lawyer in Juneau, Alaska [<nowiki/>City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska]
Angie Kemp: 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)

References