Watching the Watchmen: Independence, the Indigent, and the Public Defender Agency at Fifty - Historians' Luncheon Presentation

Victor Carlson Related Seminars and Products

Victor Carlson - University of Michigan Business School 1957, disbursing officer Adak Naval Air Station 1957-59, University of Michigan School of Law 1962, Alaska Department of Law in Juneau and Fairbanks 1962-mid-1965, Anchorage assistant city attorney mid-1965-April 1966, Greater Anchorage Area Borough attorney May 1966-July 1969, Alaska Public Defender August 1969-November 1970, Superior Court judge Sitka December 1970-November 1975, Superior Court judge Anchorage through January 1991,  Assistant Public Defender Bethel July 1995-August 1996, and Assistant Public Defender Kotzebue through June 1998.

Dana Fabe Related Seminars and Products

Senior Justice Dana Fabe served on the bench in Alaska for nearly 28 years, and she continues to serve the court in a pro-tem capacity, as well as conducting a private mediation practice. She was appointed to the Alaska Supreme Court in 1996 and was the first woman to serve on the court and as Chief Justice. She served three terms as Chief Justice and is only the second justice in the court’s history to serve three terms in that role. She clerked for Justice Edmond W. Burke of the Alaska Supreme Court in 1976-77; served as a staff attorney for the Alaska Public Defender Agency from 1977-81; and served as Chief Public Defender for Alaska from 1981-88 by appointment of the Governor.  In 1988, she was appointed to the superior court bench in Anchorage where she served as deputy presiding judge and training judge.  She  co-chaired the Alaska Fairness and Access Commission and currently co-chairs the Statewide Evaluation Panel for Alaska’s Magistrate Judges.  She has also served as co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the Center for Judicial Ethics at the National Center formState Courts. She is a past President of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ)  and founded two of its signature programs: Success Inside and Out, an NAWJ reentry program for women prisoners and Mentor Jet, an NAWJ mentoring program for students on careers in law.  Her national awards include the 2017 Sandra Day O’Connor Civic Education Award, presented by the National Center for State Courts; the 2012 Distinguished Service Award, presented by the National Center for State Courts; and the 2012 Justice Vaino Spencer Leadership Award, presented by the National Association of Women Judges. She is also one of the initial 2009 inductees of the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame and was named a YWCA Woman of Achievement in 2002. She is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an elected member of the American Law Institute.  She received her B.A. from Cornell University and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.  

Barb Brink Related Seminars and Products

Barb Brink got her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Chicago, and her JD from Hastings College of the Law. Barb came to Alaska in 1981 for a one year clerkship with Alaska Supreme Court Justice Roger Connor. She was offered her dream job at the Alaska Public Defender Agency the following year, and worked there for 23 years. Over the years Barb handled appeals, misdemeanors, felony trials, felony intake, CINA, juvenile delinquency, PCRs, investigations and civil commitment cases. By default, she was also the Public Defender softball coach. In 1988 she became the Deputy Director and in 1997 was appointed as the Director. Barb later worked at Alaska Legal Services Corporation and the Federal Public Defender for the District of Alaska.

Barb has been happily retired for 5 months. The only thing she misses is being surrounded everyday by smart, compassionate, dedicated people fighting for their clients.

Quinlan Steiner Related Seminars and Products

Quinlan Steiner served as the Public Defender for the State of Alaska from 2005 to 2019.  Mr. Steiner was originally appointed to the position by Gov. Murkowski and subsequently reappointed by Gov. Parnell and Gov. Walker.   He began his career in public service as a volunteer investigator at the Alaska Public Defender Agency prior to attending law school.  He argued his first case before the Alaska Court of Appeals as a legal extern at the agency during his third year of law school.  Mr. Steiner has been a member of thee Alaska Criminal Rules Committee, the Alaska Criminal Working Group, and the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission. 

David Carroll Related Seminars and Products

David Carroll is the director and founder of the Sixth Amendment Center (6AC).  The 6AC is a national non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to assisting policymakers meet the constitutional obligation to provide effective right to counsel services to the indigent accused. For more than twenty years Carroll has worked to identify and remedy systemic indigent defense deficiencies. Selected projects include: a) serving as an ex officio member of the Nevada Supreme Court Indigent Defense Commission and the Michigan Governor’s Indigent Defense Advisory Commission; b) evaluating right to counsel systems on behalf of legislatures in Oregon, Maine and Idaho; c) providing technical assistance and assessments to the Tennessee Supreme Court Indigent Defense Representation Task Force, the Utah Judicial Council, the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, and, the Mississippi Legislative Public Defender Task Force, all under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance; and, d) testifying on right to counsel issues before the U.S. Congress.

Susan Orlansky Related Seminars and Products

Moderator - Susan Orlansky came to Alaska in 1980 and worked for the Public Defender Agency from 1981-1992.  Since then, she has been in private practice.  She handles a wide variety of civil cases and still handles appeals on contract for the Public Defender Agency.