(a) Every person who desires subsequently to qualify as a general applicant for admission to the Alaska Bar without having been graduated from an approved law school shall register as a law clerk as provided by this section. The person shall present satisfactory proof that the person has been granted a bachelor's degree, other than bachelor of laws, by a college or university offering the degree on the basis of a four-year course of study and has successfully completed the first year of studies at a law school.
(b) The applicant shall obtain regular and full-time employment as a law clerk in the office of a judge of a court of record or an attorney or firm of attorneys licensed to practice law in the state and engaged in the general practice of law. The person by whom the applicant is employed, or, if the applicant is employed by a firm, the person under whose direction the applicant is to study, must have been admitted to practice law in the state for at least five years at the time the application for registration is filed, and be otherwise eligible to act as tutor. Before the commencement of the study of law under this section, the applicant shall file with the university an application to register as a law clerk. The application shall be made on a form to be provided by the university and shall require answers to interrogatories the university may determine from time to time to be relevant to a consideration of the application. Proof of a fact stated in the application may be required by the university. If the applicant fails or refuses to furnish any information or proof or answer any interrogatory required by the application, or independently by the university, in a manner satisfactory to the university, the application may be denied.
(c) Accompanying the application there must be submitted a statement under oath of the person by whom the applicant is employed as a law clerk, or, if the applicant is employed by a firm, of the person under whose direction the applicant is to study, certifying to the fact of the employment and that that person will act as tutor for the applicant and will faithfully instruct the applicant in the branches of the law prescribed by the course of study adopted by the university. A person is not eligible to act as tutor while disciplinary proceedings, following the service of a formal complaint, are pending against the person, or if the person has ever been censured, reprimanded, suspended or disbarred. If a registered law clerk finds it necessary to change tutors during the period of study, a new application for registration as a law clerk is required and such credit given for study under a prior tutor as the university may determine.
(d) A law clerk whose registration has been approved by the university must pursue a course of study for three calendar years of at least 44 weeks each year, with a minimum each week of 35 hours of study. Time spent in the performance of the duties of the law clerk is considered time spent in the study of law. The tutor must give personal direction regularly and frequently to the law clerk, must examine the law clerk at least once a month on the work done in the previous month, and must certify monthly as to compliance with the requirements of this subsection and (e) and (g) of this section.
(e) The examinations shall be written and not oral, and shall be answered by the clerk without research or assistance during the examination. The monthly certificate of compliance submitted by the tutor shall be accompanied by the originals of all written examinations and answers given during the period reported. If the certificates, together with the required attachments, are not filed timely with the university, no credit may be given for any period of the default.
(f) If a registered law clerk does not furnish evidence of completion of law studies within a period of six years after registration, the university may cancel the registration.
(g) The course of study to be pursued by a registered law clerk shall cover subjects, textbooks, casebooks, and other material the university may from time to time require.
(h) A registered law clerk who has attended either an approved or a nonapproved law school may, in the discretion of the university, receive credit for work done and obtain advanced standing. In no event will credit be given for fractional parts of semesters or terms, or for correspondence school work.
(i) In this section,
(1) “law school” means an accredited law school approved by or meeting the standards of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions of the American Bar Association or the Association of American Law Schools or a school in the state offering a course of study that the university approves as equivalent to a year's study in a law school under this section;
(2) “university” means the University of Alaska.
Structure Alaska Statutes