Superior Court seat attracts local notables

PALMER — Among the seven attorneys who have applied to replace retiring Superior Court Judge Beverly Cuter are some faces rather familiar around the Palmer Courthouse.

Rick Allen, 34, is an Assistant District Attorney in Palmer who handles the bulk of the office’s drug cases.

Gregory Heath, 52, has an office not far from the one he would inherit if he was chosen as Cutler’s replacement – he’s a Palmer District Court judge.

Nick Spiropoulos, 37, is the borough attorney. He’s in court periodically on cases ranging from lawsuits to animal cruelty violations.

Windy East-Hannaman, 36, has worked a number of cases in Palmer. She’s currently the deputy director of the Office of Public Advocacy.

Christopher C. Canterbury, 41, is a private attorney in Palmer.

Michael Robbins, 61, in private practice in Anchorage, says on his application for the job that he has done work in Palmer.

The other applicant – Michael Gershel, 49, is in private practice in Anchorage.

Cutler said she plans to retire Sept. 15. She’s been a judge for 32 years and a judge in Palmer for 27. She was the first Superior Court judge posted in the Valley.

On March 2, the Alaska Judicial Council announced the list of candidates who have applied to replace her. The council is charged with selecting two or more applicants from among the seven to forward on to Gov. Sarah Palin.

Once she has the names, Palin will have 45 days to select Cutler’s replacement.

Reading their biographical statements, it’s clear that each of the seven candidates took a different path to the law and to Alaska.

Spiropoulos, for instance, was born and raised in Chicago. In college he studied chemistry and economics. His resume also includes rebuilding a British roadster. After law school he prosecuted criminal defendants. He left his job as an Anchorage prosecutor in 2005.

Gershel hails from Long Island, N.Y., and came to Alaska in 1985 to work on domestic violence issues. In 1992 he became supervisor of Alaska Legal Services and in 1996 he went into private practice.

East-Hannaman came to Alaska in 1977 as part of a military family, left for college, and came back to be a lawyer. She’s been a prosecutor and a defense attorney. She’s practiced in Anchorage, Palmer and Kotzebue.

Robbins said Alaska was a dream he followed out of law school. He’s worked in private firms and has represented Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporations throughout rural Alaska. He’s also done public defender work in Palmer, Kodiak and Kenai.

Heath worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana before earning a bachelor’s and then a law degree. In 1993 he moved to Alaska to clerk for a judge. Since then he’s been a public defender and was appointed a District Court judge.

Allen was born and raised in Fairbanks, has spent time in South Africa, went to law school in Texas, and worked as a public defender on the Nez-Perce Reservation. After a stint in private practice in Texas he came back to Alaska to be an Assistant District Attorney.

Canterbury is a Chugiak High School grad who went to school in New York. He clerked for Judge James K. Singleton at the Anchorage U.S. District Court. He enjoys Robert Service Poems and hockey. His firm, Kelley and Canterbury, focuses on personal injury cases.