Alaska Legal Services Celebrated its 50th anniversary Friday. Many Legal Services attorneys have gone on to become judges in Alaska.
[Friday] Today the Dillingham Branch of Alaska Legal Services celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Alaska Legal Services. Attorneys for the Legal Service provide legal help in rural communities in order to bridge the civil justice gap. Notable previous attorneys for the service in Dillingham include retired superior court judge Fred Torrisi and current superior court judge Tina Reigh. KDLG’s Allison Mollenkamp reports.
In the early days the service was staffed with Vista volunteers. These volunteers were paid only a small living stipend. Dillingham Mayor Alice Ruby says those volunteers’ lives weren’t glamorous.
“The attorneys were working in a room off of the laundromat downtown. So people dropped off their laundry and talked to their lawyer at the same time. You know, it was convenience there. Eventually they moved across the street to a building that, it was an old grocery store. So the attorneys had, you know, what would have been little storage rooms to use for offices.”
Nikole Nelson is the Executive Director of Alaska Legal Services. She says that despite their humble beginnings, many of those Vista Volunteers went on to long careers.
“A lot of, actual, the folks who went on to become judges and leaders in the community got their start as Vista volunteers at Alaska Legal Services.”
One Legal Services Attorney who’s gone on to become a judge is Tina Reigh, who was installed formally Friday. She says the Legal Services contributes something unique to Dillingham.
“Legal Services is able to identify what in the community that their office is located, what that community’s priorities are and really focus on them. And obviously every community has different priorities, and one community doesn’t just have one priority. And in this region, fish is the priority.”
Reigh worked on many fishing related cases in her time with Legal Services, including the handling of fishing permits in wills.
For KDLG, I’m Allison Mollenkamp in Dillingham.