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15 Alaska B. Rag 1 (1991)

handle is hein.barjournals/askabar0015 and id is 1 raw text is: * . * Ma ..... Frne Anchorage Kecin Haai Iraq Se nd 12 yu r ,ro00 obsefef-h arh''A~ n b9 ,.Seepage: 23 fordeils for ti- ,' i - G.e. VL 1 A- New A.G. has lo By Ralph R. Beistline If you had asked Charlie Cole 60 days ago what he would be doing today, the last thing that might have come to mind would have been, Alaska's Attorney General. If you had asked this reporter at the same time what the chances were of Cole accepting such an of- fer, the answer would have been zero. Thanks, though, to some unex- pected political developments, a persuasive Governor, and a little soul-searching, Attorney General Charlie Cole most certainly is. Not long after the recent election, Gov. Walter J. Hickel approached Charlie with an offer the Fairbanks attorney could not refuse. I can't pay you much, but I can give you the biggest client in the United States. Included in this offer was the opportunity to serve the State of Alaska and its people and to help chart a course for Alaska that will be felt well into the future. Thirty-eight years earlier, Char- lie Cole first arrived in Alaska, fresh from Stanford Law School and a brief, but distinguished, pro- fessional baseball career. (When asked why he did not go on to a ca- reer in the major leagues with con- temporaries like Mickey Mantle, Cole explained that it was the long bus rides that deterred him). As Alaska walled patiently for the final step paused at Cleary Summit outside FairbnkF have thought that 32 years later one (Chrd1 general, serving with the chief justice of th lefI)?7 Pholo cuJtasyJayRabinm'r, Interestingly, Charlie was not the only Stanford graduate that year who went on to prominence. He sat next to Bill Rehnquist, cur- rently Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and was friends with Sandra Day, later Sandra Day O'Connor, today also a Alaska history guished himself as an Alaska at- torney, politician, and community leader. Soon thereafter, Charlie learned of a law clerk position in Fairbanks for Territorial Judge Vernon Forbes. Cole applied for the posi- tion, was hired, and thereafter re- located to Fairbanks where he has resided ever since. The clerkship lasted approxi- mately 1 year . From there Char- lie went into private practice with the firm of Collins, Clasby, and Sczudlow. Shortly thereafter, a prominent local attorney, Julian A. Hurley, became ill and Charlie took over his practice in room 218 of the Lavery Building. Charlie has been in private practice in the Fairbanks area ever since. In 1956, Charlie made what was to be his only venture into politics to Statehood In 1958, two young allomeys when he ran for Fairbanks City after a day of skiing together. Who would Magistrate. Hie opponents were s Cole, right) would be appointed allomey Larry Dworkin and George Sulli- l Alaska Supreme Court (Jay RablnowlIti van. Sullivan later became Mayor of Anchorage. Charlie ran a full- Supreme Court Justice. fledge campaign and was elected. Charlie's first job in Alaska was Interestingly, this is the only elec- in Juneau as an attorney for the tion that George Sullivan is known Commission of Veteran Affaiis. Af- to have lost in his 68 years in ter about six months, he trans- Alaska. ferred to the Juneau Attorney Gen- For the next several years, in ad- eral's office where he met a young dition to maintaining his private Ed Merdes, who also later distin- Continued on page 8 Lawyer tackles the Iditarod race to Nome By Kevin G. Clarkson This winter, while most Alaska attorneys will be inside warm of- fices (hopefully), performing their usual routines, researching cases, drafting legal documents, briefs and countless discovery requests, one Anchorage attorney, Jim Can- tor of Perkins Coie, will be out in the cold, performing a much differ- ent routine: feeding and tending sled dogs, shoveling dog manure, and loading, unloading and driving a dog sled. Is Jion out to prove to our Lower 48 counterparts that their percep- tions of Alaska lawyers are right? NO. Is he answering the call of the wild? Well, maybe. This March, Jim will try his hand (or dogs) at the Iditarod, Alaska's 1,162 mile dog sled race from An- chorage to Nome. Although Jim was raised in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan and the Cornell University Law School, he is a long-time Alaskan. He first came to Alaska in 1977 when he took a year off from his undergrad- uate studies and came up here for adventure. During that year, Jim definitely had a lot of adventure - crabbing, substitute teaching in Bethel and driving a truck - and developed an enduring love for Alaska's wilderness. After completing his undergrad- uate studies in Michigan, Jim re- turned to Alaska in 1981 and ca- noed the Yukon River, showed Alaska to Susan (his future wife) and lived in Bethel for a year. Jim received his law degreu from Cor- nell in May, 1986, passed the Alaska Bar the following July and has been working as a litigator in the Perkins Coie Anchorage office ever since. Jim's mushing experience began in Alaska during his year off from school. Susan and I had spent Thanks. giving with friends in Russian Mis- sion near 6e Yukon River. Being in Russian Mission in November, we really didn't have much to do except play Scrabble and talk, and we mostly talked about mushing. After two days, our friends con- vinced Susan and me to borrow a sled (a 1930's freight sled) and three dogs (one that had never run in a team before, one that hadn't Alaska Bar Associatlon P.O. Box 100279 Anchorage, Alaska 99510 run for a year and no lead dog) and take a one-mozth mushing trip to Bethel. This was an experience neither Jim (nor Susan) would re- peat - but it was enough to get them hooked and did not diminish their interest in mushing. Continued on page 7 Non-Profll Ot'anlzatlon U.S. Postage Paid Peramit No. 401 Anchorags, Alaska

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