Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy appointed Superior Court Judge Jude Pate of Sitka to the Alaska Supreme Court. Judge Pate was selected from a list of individuals nominated by the Alaska Judicial Council.
Pate has been an Alaska resident for 29 years and has practiced law for 28 years. He graduated from Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law in 1993 and is currently a superior court judge in Sitka. Judge Pate fills the vacancy created by Chief Justice Dan Winfree’s retirement.
Pate was appointed to the Superior Court by Alaska Governor Bill Walker, who served one term as Alaska’s 11th governor. Pate was born in Nuremberg, Germany, to a U.S. Army family. He was raised in Kansas and in Europe and moved to Sitka in 1993 after graduating from law school. He worked as the legal counsel for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and also was in private practice. Pate served as an assistant public defender in Sitka for 12 years.
The Alaska Judicial Council in December forwarded to Gov. Mike Dunleavy its four nominees for the vacancy.
The lawyers selected by the council were Anchorage Superior Court Judge Dani Crosby, Department of Law attorney Kate Demarest, Fairbanks attorney Aimee Oravec, and Pate.
Dani Crosby: An Alaska resident for more than 36 years who has practiced law for more than 26 years, she graduated from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1996 and is a Superior Court judge in Anchorage.
Kate Demarest: An Alaska resident for over 12 years who has practiced law for 14 years, she graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2008 and is a senior assistant attorney general in the Opinions, Appeals, and Ethics section at the Department of Law in Anchorage.
Aimee A. Oravec: An Alaska resident for over 23 years who has practiced law for 24 years, she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in 1998 and is currently general counsel for Doyon Utilities, LLC.
Jude Pate: An Alaska resident for over 29 years, he has practiced law for more than 28 years. Pate graduated from Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law in 1993 and is a superior court judge in Sitka.
The council voted unanimously for Oravec and Crosby. Pate and Demarest were advanced with a 5-1 vote, with member Kristie Babcock voting no on Demarest and member Geraldine Simon voting no on Pate.
The Alaska Judicial Council is a commission created by the Alaska Constitution comprised of three Alaska Bar Association attorneys, three non-attorneys, and the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. The governor is required by law to choose a justice from the names the council forwards to him.
