Alaska Employment Law

Workers Comp and the practice of law:  In Alaska, non-attorney Workers Compensation officers may decide disputed procedural and preliminary issues, as authorized by statute, and must correct misstatements by employer representatives that may mislead pro se claimants, under Bohlman v. Alaska Construction & Engineering, Inc., 205 P.3d 316 (Alaska 2009).  Are those non-attorneys, then, engaged in the unauthorized practice of law under Bar Rule 63 and AS 08.08.230?  No, according to an AG Opinion authored by Assistant AG Toby Steinberger, because 1) they don’t hold themselves out as attorneys; 2) they represent the agency and neither party; and 3) their tasks are specifically authorized by law. 

AGO No. AN2009104342, 2010 WL 518242 (Jan. 6, 2010).

Disclosure of informants:  U. S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts has ordered the government to disclose the identity of the informant who allegedly purchased cocaine from the defendant three business days before trial, but declined to order the disclosure of the identities of the informants who provided information on which a search warrant was based. 

U. S. v. Celestine, 2010 WL 489699 (D.Alaska Feb. 4, 2010).  Stephan Collins is the AUSA; Allen Dayan and Steven Wells represent the defendants.  All practice in Anchorage.