A 1975 study by former Alaska Attorney General (1970–1973) John E. Havelock concluded that the state did not require a law school.
[8] A 2013 summary of the 1975 study noted: The study concludes that there is no need to increase the supply of lawyers in Alaska by establishment of a law school and that many objectives which might be reached by a law school can also be reached by building on existing arrangements and models and development of other options for legal practice in Alaska such as paralegal training, particularly in rural areas of the state.
[9] The school offered a two-year program enabling students to represent themselves before Alaskan courts, with graduates receiving pre-law certificates.
[11] In 1994 the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Academy of Trial Lawyers sponsored a weekly Community Law School course at Central Junior High School in Anchorage,[12] with local attorneys teaching property, personal injury, employment and criminal law and providing legal information about insurance contracts.
"[15] The elder Sundborg (one of the 55 signers of the Alaska State Constitution, a copy of which was displayed at Seattle University at the time of the donation)[16] was an editor of newspapers in Juneau and Fairbanks, general manager of the Alaska Development Board and assistant to Governor and United States Senator Ernest Gruening.
[22] Later that month, the Supreme Court of the United States noted the absence of a public, American Bar Association (ABA)-accredited law school in Alaska in Grutter v.
[8] In contrast to his 1975 view that there "were then just barely enough qualified Alaskans to generate a student body," he noted that by 2008 Alaska's population had doubled.
[8] In March 2008, about a year after forming Alaska School of Law Limited, Aglietti dissolved the limited liability company[26] and formed the Anchorage-based, nonprofit Alaska School of Law with Aglietti, Offret & Woofteri[29] law-firm members Christopher M. Cromer and Ronald A.
[31] In reply, the University of Alaska System noted that "adding graduate programs would require an analysis of student demand and the work force needed to staff" a law school.
It could also be used to better fund district attorney's offices, Legal Aid, victims' compensation and public defenders programs.
When established, the Institute of Law shall provide for the issuance of the degree of juris doctor according to generally accepted national accreditation standards.
[37][41] The program received American Bar Association approval in late 2014 and began accepting applications for the Fall 2015 semester.