FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 12, 2002

For additional information contact

Marla N. Greenstein 907-272-1033 or

Judge David Mannheimer 907-264-0754

ALASKA JOINS RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RULE OF LAW CONSORTIUM

Partnership Formed Between

Legal Communities In Alaska and Khabarovsk

Judges and lawyers in Alaska have launched a pioneering Rule of Law partnership with their counterparts in the Khabarovsk region of the Russian Far East, Chief Justice Dana Fabe of the Alaska Supreme Court announced. A delegation from Khabarovsk is visiting Alaska this week and includes several chief judges, a dean of Khabarovsk law school, a representative of their duma (legislature), and lawyers (see attached schedule of events).

The project is designed to foster relations between the legal communities in Alaska and Khabarovsk to bolster legal reforms and infrastructure that will strengthen the region’s own democratic institutions. Project participants in Alaska and Khabarovsk have selected areas of law where they will cooperate. Project sponsors hope to develop an on-going partnership linking the Alaska Court System and the Alaska Bar Association with lawyers and judges in Khabarovsk.

“We are delighted to meet our counterparts in the Russian Far East to share our experience and knowledge and explore improving both our justice systems. We share the unique issues of justice and life in the frontier and look forward to a long working relationship,” said Chief Justice Fabe in announcing Alaska’s participation in the Russian American Rule of Law Consortium. The consortium includes seven northeastern states, Vermont, Maryland, Maine, Western New York (Rochester), New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, paired with seven western European Russian provinces. The Khabarovsk-Alaska Rule of Law Forum brings the Russian American Rule of Law Project to new territory – the Western United States and the Russian Far East.

The Alaska legal community showed substantial support for joining the consortium and establishing an Alaska-Russian Far East Rule of Law project after Vermont Supreme Court Justice John Dooley, President of the Russian American Rule of Law Consortium, and consortium staff visited Anchorage in November. Some 60 Alaska lawyers have expressed interest in volunteering for such a project.

Justice Fabe appointed an Alaska steering committee to direct the project and to work with Khabarovsk in identifying areas of mutual interest. However, all interested Alaska lawyers and judges will be able to participate in the Khabarovsk-Alaska Rule of Law Forum. In the first year of the project, Alaska anticipates, in addition to hosting this group of judges and lawyers from Khabarovsk, to send a delegation of Alaskan judges and lawyers to Khabarovsk to visit the legal community there.

Khabarovsk, one of 89 provinces in the Russian Federation, formed a sister state relationship with Alaska in 1988. The Khabarovsk Krai (region) has a long eastern coastline on the Sea of Okhotsk. At its northernmost point, the Khabarovsk Krai is roughly at the latitude of Mt. McKinley, but the territory stretches farther south than Alaska. The scenic capital city, Khabarovsk, has a population about the same as Alaska’s. Khabarovsk Krai has double the population of Alaska in an area roughly two-thirds the size of Alaska. This region of the Russian Far East, and particularly the northern Khabarovsk Krai city of Okhotsk, served as a staging area for early Russian explorers on discovery voyages to North America. Vitus Bering’s 1728 voyage set out from Okhotsk.

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Alaska Steering Committee: Khabarovsk-Alaska Rule of Law Forum

Chief Justice Fabe appointed a steering committee representing a cross-section of the Alaska legal community drawn from the state and federal judiciary; public and private sectors; civil, commercial and criminal practitioners; administrators; legislative and executive branches; and educators. Many of those involved have experience in the Russian Far East.

· Co-chairs: Judge David Mannheimer, Alaska Court of Appeals, and Marla Greenstein, Executive Director, Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct.

· Judges: U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Singleton; Alaska Supreme Court Justice Alexander Bryner; Alaska Superior Court Judges Patricia Collins of Juneau, Jonathan Link of Kenai, Eric Smith of Palmer, and Alaska District Court Judge Ray Funk of Fairbanks.

· Attorney General Bruce Botelho

· Legislators: Rep. Lesil McGuire (R-Anchorage), recent law school graduate, Chair of House Special Committee on Economic Development, Trade & Tourism; Rep. Ethan Berkowitz (D-Anchorage), attorney, House Minority Leader.

· Attorneys: Kathy Atkinson, Rich Curtner, Jeff Feldman, Peter Gruenstein, Carolyn Jones, Lisa Rieger, state, federal, and private practitioners in Anchorage; Bill Ruddy, based in Juneau but commutes to the Russian Far East as partner in international law firm with offices in Russia; and Steve Yoshida of Homer, a veteran of Russian Far East legal exchanges.

· Alaska Division of International Trade & Market Development: Jeff Berliner, Russian Far East Trade Specialist.

· University of Alaska: Pamela Kelley, Attorney and Assistant Professor, UAA Justice Center; Russ Howell, Director, UAA American Russian Center (ARC), and Alyona Selhay, a Russian law school graduate employed by ARC.

Visiting Khabarovsk Delegation:

Judge Vicktor P. Shevchenko

Judge of the Khabarovsk Regional Court of General Jurisdiction; Chair of the Council of Judges of the Khabarovsk Kray

Anatoly A. Podlasenko

Deputy Prosecutor of the Khabarovsk Kray

Nickolay I. Tzirulnik

Deputy Chairman of the Khabarovsk Kray Regional Duma (Legislature)

Vladimir A. Matelsky

Member of a Presidium of the Khabarovsk Regional Collegium of Advocates (Bar)

Judge Lubov K. Bondarenko

Chair of the Komsomolsk-na-Amure District Court of General Jurisdiction

Judge Vladimir I. Likhachev

Chair of the Khabarovsk District Court of General Jurisdiction

Judge Alla Pavlova

Judge of the Khabarovsk Regional Court of General Jurisdiction

Judge Valery Markovich Vdovenkov

Chairman of the Khabarovsk Regional Court of General Jurisdiction; Member of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation; Chairman of the Khabarovsk Steering Committee

Judge Nickolay Nicolaevich Serov

Chairman of the Khabarovsk Commercial (Arbitrazh) Court; Member of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation; Deputy Chair of the Khabarovsk Steering Committee

The Honorable Sergey Alekseevich Gvozdev

Deputy Chairman of the Khabarovsk Regional Court of General Jurisdiction; Deputy Chair of the Khabarovsk Steering Committee

Judge Valery Dexionovich Kim

Deputy Chairman of the Khabarovsk Commercial (Arbitrazh) Court

Svetlana Vasilievna Narutto

Deputy Dean of the Law School of the Khabarovsk Academy of Economics and Law; Khabarovsk Coordinator of the Khabarovsk - Alaska Rule of Law Partnership

(Program agenda follows)

KHABAROVSK - ALASKA RULE OF LAW PARTNERSHIP

Anchorage, Alaska

June 9 – 14, 2002

Sunday, June 9

9:35 a.m. Delegation arrives in Anchorage from Khabarovsk via Seoul

4:00 p.m. Tour of Anchorage Museum, followed by walking tour of downtown Anchorage

Monday, June 10

10:00 Day Trip to Palmer with Judge Mannheimer and Ms. Sagan Courthouse & Community Tour

Lunch at Hatcher Pass Lodge

Tuesday, June 11

9:00 - 11:30 Tour Federal Building and Federal Courts

Demonstration of high-tech courtrooms

Observe jury trial in U.S. District Court

12:00 - 1:30 Lunch with Anchorage State Court Judges

2:30 University of Alaska Anchorage

Overview of Alaska Economy

American Russian Center

Tour of Main UAA Campus

Justice Center

Discussion of Legal Education

6:30 Dinner hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage

Wednesday, June 12

9:00 - 10:30 Court Administration (Supreme Court, Boney Courthouse)

10:30 -12:00 Tour of State Court Facilities

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch (Snowden Training Center)

1:30 -- 5:00 Concurrent Sessions

· Jury Trials (Nesbett Courthouse)

· Commercial/ Bankruptcy/Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (Law Offices of Dorsey & Whitney)

7:00 Dinner at Tanglewood Clubhouse with the Anchorage Bar Association

Thursday, June 13

9:00 – 11:30 Judicial Ethics and Independence

12:00 - 1:30 World Affairs Council Luncheon (Hilton Hotel)

2:00 – 5:00 Development of the Legal Profession

6:00 Dinners at the homes of Judge David Mannheimer and Attorneys Richard Curtner, Peter Gruenstein and Kathy Atkinson

Friday, June 14

8:30 - 11:30 Public Outreach/Education

11:45 - 1:45 Joint Steering Committee Meeting with working lunch

1:45 Free time for shopping or sightseeing with individual Rotary hosts

Saturday, June 15

Delegates depart.