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35 Alaska B. Rag 1 (2011)

handle is hein.barjournals/askabar0035 and id is 1 raw text is: - - John W. Sedwick assumes senior status in March By Ashley McDow U.S. District Judge John W. Sed- wick assumes senior status in March following 19 years of service in the federal courts. Judge Sedwick was born in Penn- sylvania in 1946. In 1951, his father, who was a surgeon, moved his family to Anchorage after accepting a job offer there. Returning to the east coast, Judge Sedwick attended Dartmouth college and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1968. He then received his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in 1972. The lure of Alaska was too great, however, and he returned to prac- tice law. He was in private practice from 1972 to 1992, save for one year between 1981 and 1982 when he served as the State Director of Land and Water Management in the State Department of Natural Resources. Outside observers would probably identify Enserch v. State, 787 P.2d 624 (Alaska 1989) as being the most noteworthy case that he handled in private practice. This was an im- portant case striking down certain provisions of Alaska's local hire law for public construction contracts on state equal protection grounds. Judge Sedwick had always pos- sessed an interest in becoming ajudge and his wish was granted when he was appointed to the United States Dis- trict Court in 1992. On July 2, 1992, President George H.W. Bush nomi- nated Judge Sedwick to take Judge Kleinfeld's bench (Judge Kleinfeld was elevated to a seat on the Ninth Circuit). The Senate confirmed the appointmenton October8,1992. Judge Sedwick received his commission on October 9, 1992. In 2002, Judge Sedwick became the Chief Judge of the District of Alaska, a posi- John W. Sedwick tion he held for seven years until 2009. Despite his impressive list of accolades, Judge Sedwick still has a lighter side. In interviewing him for this article, he shared with me a humorus story from his high school days. While changing a flat tire on the Seward Highway on a Good Fri- day, the ground began to shake and the road began to crack. Although he was convinced that the Russians had dropped an atomic bomb, he later learned that it was only what would become known as the great Alaskan Earthquake. When we turned our conversa- tion to a case that had left a lasting impression upon him, Judge Sedwick recounted for me one of the more tragic cases to make its way into his courtroom. Kluver vs. Rocky Moun- tain Helicopters, was a wrongful death action brought by the survivors of the crash of a logging helicopter. The alleged cause of the accident was an unweighted thirty foot cable that was left dangling from the helicopter's belly and ultimately got caught in the tail rotor, causing the helicopter to go down. Three weeks into the jury trial, the case settled for fourteen million dollars. However, for those three weeks, Judge Sedwick and the courtroom were captivated by the gripping testimony. Judge Sedwick informed me that he rarely, if ever, second guesses his rulings, stating that that is what we have a court of appeals for. This ability to look forward is something genuinely admired by his colleagues. During his nearly twenty years on the federal bench, Judge Sedwick was frequently asked to sit as a visiting judge by the Ninth Circuit. He has also presided over cases from the Continued on page 21 Or, the absolutely true story of a local attorney as an extra on the set of Everybody Loves Whales By Todd Sherwood It was a dark and stormy night as I was reading the daily paper by the light of the bare bulb hanging over the rough-hewn table upon which I took my meals. My oatmeal had grown cold and I was engrossed in the daily serial of a story of a medieval warrior entitled A Dark and Stormy Knigh,t when a blast of lightning cut the electricity and my small room was plunged into darkness. As I struggled to light the kero- sene lantern I knocked the paper to the floor. The lantern lit, I retrieved the paper. As I did so my eye fell on the title of a small article on the back page: Whale Movie To Be Filmed in Anchorage - Local Actors Wanted. In a moment I was transformed. I heard the clarion call of my siren and her name was Holly Wood. I was helpless to resist her call. I quickly updated my actor's re- sume and attached a black and white actor's headshot photo. It wasn't too difficult to update my anemic resume as I had only been in a few local plays. Still, I had hopes and dreams. Per- haps I would be The Sherwood recognized for the mug shot that brilliant thespian I might have knew myself to be. launched him to Perhaps it would be stardom. only a short time before I would be leaving the droll life of lawyering behind and would daily be squinting under the bright lights of movie sets across the globe! I had to get noticed. Having read that thousands would be auditioning I entitled my email: Seasoned Actor for Whale Movie Auditions and sent it off to Alaska Film Services, the local casting agency. I noted in the email that not only had I appeared in five local plays, I had lived in Barrow for five years (working as the North Slope Borough attorney) and knew people who were part of the whale rescue. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. But I was patient, forcing myself with steel discipline to check Continued on page 24 By the way.... In the give credit where credit is due department, the Bar Rag in December inadvertantly dropped the byline for the excellent article on the Storied Career of Territorial Lawyer George Grigsby. The historical piece was pains- takingly researched and written by Margaret Russell. She is a member of the Bar Historians Committee. FJ4), oegge

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