Alaska Employment Law

The return of the Alaska Federation of Natives convention to Fairbanks this week prompted attorney Barry Jackson to reflect on his contributions to the drafting of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.  Jackson’s thoughts appear in an October 21st OpEd Piece in the News-Miner. 

Jackson’s strength was his connections with Interior tribes, especially Minto.  He was pivotal in the decision to adopt a business corporation model for the tribal recipients of the lands.  While Jackson seems to have been the only attorney from the Interior active in ANCSA, a number of attorneys from Anchorage and several from Southeast also helped, many (like Jackson) without any ongoing compensation.   

A comprehensive (and thickly sourced) review of the roles of Alaskan attorneys in the events leading up to ANCSA is contained in Don Mitchell’s Take My Land, Take My Life.  Mitchell traces the efforts of Edward Paul Boyko, Roger Connor, Cliff Groh, Jack Hendrickson, Stan McCutcheon, Les Miller, Tony Smith, and others.  Take My Land is the follow-up volume to Sold American, which covers the years up to 1959.  Both books are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Mitchell served as AFN General Counsel and Vice President in the years leading up to the passage of ANILCA in 1981.  He’s long opposed critiqued the case for the sovereignty of Alaska tribes.  (He filed an amicus brief on behalf of Sen. Ted Stevens when the Venetie case went to the Supreme Court (with now-Chief Justice John Roberts representing the State).  Mitchell lives in downtown Anchorage, still practices some law, and is currently working on several book projects, including a history of Indian gaming in the Lower 48.  For several profiles of Mitchell, see here and here.