Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Last updated

Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
FormationNovember 30, 2009;14 years ago (2009-11-30)
TypeLegal Association
Headquarters Anchorage, Alaska
Location
President
Jeff Robinson [1]
Website www.akacdl.org

The Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (AKACDL), founded November 30, 2009, [1] is a voluntary non-profit professional association created to serve the needs of criminal defense attorneys in Alaska. AKACDL's primary goal is to provide continuing legal education ("CLE") for new attorneys as well as seasoned practitioners, and for both public defenders and private practitioners. AKACDL presents an annual educational event named the "AKACDL All*Stars Conference," usually featuring four nationally recognized speakers at a two-day conference held at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. [1]

Contents

History

AKACDL was founded in 2009 [2] by four Anchorage criminal defense lawyers: Darrel J. Gardner, Andrew J. Lambert, Steve M. Wells, and F. Rich Curtner. Except for Rich Curtner, all of the founders have served as president of the association. [3] According to the AKACDL website,

The Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers was incorporated on November 30, 2009. With more than 200 members having since joined, AKACDL is Alaska's preeminent criminal defense organization. [1]

Mission

The goals of AKACDL are: To promote study and research in the field of criminal defense law and procedure and constitutional law. To disseminate by lecture, seminars, and publications such theories, technologies, and techniques that support or promote the field of criminal defense advocacy. To sponsor periodic meetings of the criminal defense bar; to provide a forum for the exchange of information regarding the administration of criminal justice; and thereby to protect individual rights and improve the practice and procedures of criminal law. To represent the association before the legislative, executive, and judicial bodies which determine policy for the state and federal governments in a manner that promotes the mission of the association and its objectives and purposes. To preserve, protect, and defend the adversary system of justice and the Alaska and U.S. Constitutions. [4]

AKACDL's primary mission is to provide continuing legal education (CLE), [5] for new attorneys as well as seasoned practitioners, and for public defenders as well as private practitioners. AKACDL presents an annual "All*Stars Conference" featuring numerous nationally recognized speakers. Throughout the year AKACDL also offers short educational seminars, which are typically free to members. AKACDL works with other defense organizations to promote CLE opportunities for its members. [1] AKACDL is an official Affiliate Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. [6] [7]

Amicus curiae and litigation

As amicus curiae, AKACDL helped secure a victory before the Alaska Supreme Court in Barber v. State (Opinion No. S-6850, December 6, 2013). [8] [9] AKACDL was also a named plaintiff in a lawsuit against the State of Alaska filed by the ACLU of Alaska, challenging as unconstitutional a new bail law in 2010. [10]

Other involvement

AKACDL is a supporter of the Alaska Innocence Project, and the Alaska Bar Association's annual Bar Convention.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Bar of Texas</span> Bar Association

The State Bar of Texas is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas. With more than 100,000 active members, the State Bar of Texas is one of the largest state bars in the United States. Unlike the American Bar Association (ABA), the State Bar of Texas (SBOT) is a mandatory bar. The State Bar is headquartered in the Texas Law Center at 1414 Colorado Street in Austin.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is an American criminal defense organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State bar association</span>

A state bar association is a bar association that represents or seeks to represent the attorneys practicing law in a particular U.S. state. Their functions differ from state to state, but often include administration of the state bar examination for admission of attorneys to practice law, regulation of continuing legal education (CLE) and other requirements, collection and monitoring of attorney client trust accounts, collection of fees and discipline of attorneys for ethical or other violations. Some state bars also provide services for members such as maintaining a directory of attorneys in the state, facilitating networking and social events for attorneys, publishing a bar journal and providing classes to fulfill CLE requirements.

The Federal Bar Association (FBA) is the primary voluntary professional organization for private and government lawyers and judges practicing and sitting in federal courts in the United States. Six times a year, the FBA prints The Federal Lawyer, which includes the latest news of interest to the federal legal community. The magazine features articles by attorneys and judges, book reviews, the latest Supreme Court rulings, judicial profiles, and thorough coverage of FBA activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York City Bar Association</span> Association of lawyers in New York City

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association, founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartered in a landmark building on 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. Today the City Bar has more than 23,000 members. Its current president, Muhammad U. Faridi, began his two-year term in May 2024.

A personal injury lawyer is a lawyer who provides legal services to those who claim to have been injured, physically or psychologically, as a result of the negligence of another person, company, government agency or any entity. Personal injury lawyers primarily practice in the area of law known as tort law. Examples of common personal injury claims include injuries from slip and fall accidents, traffic collisions, defective products, workplace injuries and professional malpractice.

Continuing legal education (CLE), also known as mandatory or minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) or, in some jurisdictions outside the United States, as continuing professional development, consists of professional education for attorneys that takes place after their initial admission to the bar. Within the United States, U.S. attorneys in many states and territories must complete certain required CLE in order to maintain their U.S. licenses to practice law. Outside the United States, lawyers in various jurisdictions, such as British Columbia in Canada, must also complete certain required CLE. However, some jurisdictions, such as the District of Columbia and Israel, recommend, but do not require, that attorneys complete CLE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeralyn Merritt</span> American lawyer

Jeralyn Elise Merritt is an American criminal defense attorney in private practice in Denver, Colorado, since 1974. She served as one of the trial lawyers for Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing case in 1996 and 1997. In 2002 Merritt founded and is the principal author of the blog TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime. She also serves as a legal commentator for news media programs and as an internet journalist.

The Minnesota State Bar Association is a voluntary bar association for the state of Minnesota, whose members include lawyers, judges, and other legal practitioners, such as clerks, registrars, and paralegals. The MSBA is one of the oldest state bar associations in the United States. Membership is not required to practice law in Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhode Island Bar Association</span> Bar Association

The Rhode Island Bar Association is the unified (mandatory) bar association of the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts</span>

The Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts (WBA) has over 1500 members and was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1978 with a goal to achieve the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a society. It is one of the oldest and largest women's bar associations in the country.

The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) is a bar association located in New York City.

The Alaska Bar Association (ABA) is a mandatory bar association responsible for the Alaska Supreme Court and for the admission and discipline process of attorneys for the state of Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Continuing Education of the Bar</span> University of California program

CEB is a self-supporting program of the University of California. Founded in 1947 to educate veterans returning to the practice of law after service in World War II, CEB offers three, six, and 24-hour continuing legal education (CLE) courses and practice guides.

Legal education in Alaska refers to the history of efforts to educate Alaskans in the laws of the state, including the education of those representing themselves before the courts, paralegals and the continuing legal education of Alaskan lawyers after their admission to the Alaska Bar Association. Since becoming the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959 Alaska has not had a public, American Bar Association-accredited law school. A 1975 study by former Alaska Attorney General (1970–1973) John E. Havelock concluded that the state did not require a law school. Without a state law school, Alaska did not receive a 2001 distribution of the complete legal papers of Abraham Lincoln and the Alaska Law Review has been published outside Alaska.

Gerald "Gerry" Harris Goldstein is a criminal defense attorney in San Antonio, Texas, best known for his civil rights and drug-charge defenses. He is currently a partner of Goldstein & Orr and is Board Certified by the State Bar of Texas in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Arshack</span> American lawyer

Daniel "Dan" Arshack is an American criminal defense attorney, co-founder of The Bronx Defenders, managing partner of the law firm Arshack, Hajek and Lehrman, PLLC, and a founding member of the International Criminal Bar, which was created to promote "the development of an independent legal profession and practice before the International Criminal Court." Arshack, who has been a defender for his entire career and "has never put anyone behind bars as either a prosecutor or government counsel," is known for his expertise on international criminal justice issues, lawyer trainings, and anti-death penalty advocacy. Arshack has conducted training for lawyers in Paris, Beirut, The Hague, Victoria, Montreal, Liberia, and New York. His specialties are trial advocacy techniques, ethics, and international criminal tribunals. He has also been an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard S. Jaffe</span>

Richard S. Jaffe is an American lawyer, legal analyst, leadership coach, and author of Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned. Jaffe is considered one of the foremost experts and lecturers on criminal law in America and is frequently called upon to comment on death penalty issues and other areas of criminal law by national television, radio and print media.

Drew Findling is an American criminal defense lawyer known for representing clients who are hip hop musicians as well as other well-known clients, including Donald Trump. Based in Atlanta, he is the founding partner of The Findling Law Firm, P.C., which focuses on criminal defense, ranging from complex white-collar crimes to serious violent felonies, as well as regarding international matters.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "AKACDL - Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers". www.akacdl.org.
  2. ↑ "Articles of Incorporation of Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers". Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.
  3. ↑ "Board Members & Officers of AKACDL" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ "AKACDL - Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers". www.akacdl.org.
  5. ↑ Continuing legal education
  6. ↑ "NACDL - Alaska Affiliates". www.nacdl.org.
  7. ↑ "Criminal Defense".
  8. ↑ "AKACDL Amicus win - Barber v. State". AKACDL. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Barber v. State Department of corrections (2013)". CaseLaw. FindLaw.
  10. ↑ Holland, Megan (July 1, 2010). "Alaska defense lawyers sue state over new bail law". Anchorage Daily News .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.