Legal education in Alaska

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.

As of 2015, Alaska was the only state without a law school, but Seattle University School of Law has opened a satellite campus at Alaska Pacific University, where law students from any ABA accredited school can study Alaska-specific courses during summers or for part or all of their third (and final) year of law school.^[1][2] Also, although it still requires students to leave the state, as of 2021, University of Alaska Anchorage undergraduates can qualify for direct admission to Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Willamette University College of Law on an accelerated schedule.^[3]