CURRICULUM VITAE
Business address: Home address:
319 Seward Street, Suite 5 11380 North Douglas Highway
Juneau, Alaska 99801 Juneau, Alaska 99801
(907) 586-4004 (907) 586-3155
1-888-293-2530 [fax] (907) 723-2959 [cell]
Attorney, mediator, arbitrator, and hearing officer with a general civil practice emphasizing administrative law, natural resource law, environmental law, employment/labor law, and Native American issues. Practice before the United States Supreme Court, Alaska Supreme Court, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Represents clients in all other levels of state and federal courts and before federal, state, and local administrative agencies. Hearing officer, mediator, and arbitrator on a wide range of disputes and in regulatory and legislative matters.
Born January 1, 1949, in Albany, New York.
Education:
Yale University, B.A. Magna Cum Laude with High Honors (American Studies), 1971; Phi Beta Kappa; Dean's Award for Outstanding Contribution to College.
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1974, emphasis on administrative and environmental law; co-chairman, Harvard Environmental Law Society; member, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Youth Advisory Board.
Mediation Training and Practice, Mediation Center, Inc., Eugene, Oregon, 2003 (a detailed thirty hour training course) and other training courses in mediation and alternate dispute resolution..
Employment History prior to entering private law practice in 1991:
1980-1991: Assistant Attorney General, State of Alaska, Juneau. Served as legal counsel to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Conservation, with emphasis on permitting (water, air, and pollution prevention), pollution regulation (including land use, air, water, and oil and hazardous substance matters) and oil pipeline regulation; reviewed legal advice by Department of Law attorneys on Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act and acted as advisor to boards and commissions regarding Ethics Act compliance; advisor to the Office of the Governor on legal matters regarding Native Americans. Duties consisted of a large litigation caseload, mostly in federal courts, including trial and appellate cases; and extensive advising of heads of state agencies, including the governor, attorney general, and commissioners of departments of environmental conservation and natural resources, as well as the state legislature. Duties also included drafting legislation and regulations on environmental and natural resource matters. Substantive areas of legal work included oil spill laws, Executive Branch Ethics Act matters, air and water pollution abatement, hazardous substance laws, forestry, land use regulation, Native Alaskan governmental claims, Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and related matters.
1977-1980: Chief Assistant Attorney General, State of Alaska, Fairbanks. In charge of office of the Alaska Department of Law with responsibility for civil law enforcement in interior and northern Alaska; supervised and managed a staff of thirteen attorneys, investigators, paralegals, and secretaries. Areas of emphasis: environmental and natural resource matters, public health and social services issues. Advised State Elections Division on various issues. Also served on the committee to revise the children's rules appointed by the Alaska Supreme Court.
1975-1977: Assistant Attorney General, State of Alaska, Fairbanks. Primarily a civil litigation caseload, with emphasis on child protection, mental health, public health, delinquency, and consumer protection, with some white collar criminal litigation.
1974-1975: Law Clerk to Hon. Jay A. Rabinowitz, Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. Duties included legal research and preparation of memoranda on cases before the court, and revision of court rules.
1973: Legal intern, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY. Legal research and writing on environmental litigation issues.
1972: Legal Assistant to Hon. Harry Albright, Superintendent of Banks of the State of New York.
Publications:
The Role of the Anthropologist as an Expert Witness in Litigation, presented at Annual Conference of the Alaska Anthropological Association, 1994.
A Primer on Alaska Native Sovereignty, originally published in 1991 and updated periodically, available at http://www.alaska.net/~dkmertz/pubs.htm
Oil Spills in Alaska: A Study of the State of Alaska's Implementation of Oil Spill Laws and Programs, prepared for the Alaska Citizens' Oversight Council on Oil and Other Hazardous Substances, 1991 [primary author and editor].
The Legal Relationship between Oil Spill Response Action Contractors and Other Parties to an Oil Spill, prepared for the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Committee, 1991.
Oil Spills: An Initial Response Manual for Attorneys General, National Association of Attorneys General, 1990 [primary author and editor].
Legal Contingency Planning for Oil Spills, Proceedings of the 1985 Oil Spill Conference, American Petroleum Institute, 1985 [co-author James S. Mattson, Ph.D.].
The Alaska Historic Preservation Act and Submerged Cultural Resources, Proceedings of the Alaska Marine Archaeology Workshop, Alaska Sea Grant Program, 1983 [co-author T. Herrick Robertson].
Additional professional qualifications and honors:
Member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,the State of Alaska, and the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. Member, Area Discipline Hearing Committee and Area Fee Arbitration Committee, Alaska Bar Association; former chair of local discipline hearing board. Former member of the executive committees of Alaska Bar Association sections on environmental law and Native law. Arbitrator on fee disputes for the Alaska Bar Association. Investigated and ruled on several ethics disputes involving high executive officials, on behalf of Alaska Personnel Board.
Received Civil Libertarian of the Year Award from Alaska Civil Liberties Union in 2007 for “Outstanding Efforts to Protect the Principles of Free Speech.”
Received official Citation from Alaska Legislature in 2008 for public service and pro bono legal services in public interest and in defense of civil liberties.
Designated as Alaskan Superlawyer by Superlawyer.com, Thomsen-Reuters listing of top 5% of attorneys by state.
Member, American Bar Association, Alaska Bar Association, and National Employment Lawyers Association
Former Adjunct Faculty Member, University of Alaska:
Department of Environmental Science, teaching Environmental Law and Science, Fall Semester 1998 [A detailed survey of administrative and environmental law on the agency and judicial system levels, intended to prepare engineers and scientists for their roles in administrative and legal proceedings regarding environmental permitting and disputes];
Department of Public Administration, teaching Native Alaskan Law and Policy Issues, Summer Semester 1999 [Covering the range of issues involving Alaska Natives and other Alaskans related to tribal status, sovereignty, subsistence, land claims, and the legal relationships of tribes and tribal members to state, federal, and local governments. This course was distance-delivered over UAS facilities to classrooms throughout Alaska and the Yukon].
Numerous seminars and continuing legal education courses in environmental, natural resources, and Native American law, including the following as a member of faculty:
1982 - Environmental Law Seminar - Anchorage, Alaska -[Alaska Bar Association] - [faculty: delivered presentation on "Alaska's Hazardous Waste Management Act: Enforcement Perspective"].
1983 - Alaskan Oil Spill Training Seminar - Juneau, Alaska - [Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation/U.S. Coast Guard] - [faculty: conducted training on legal aspects of oil spills for field personnel, including investigative techniques and evidence gathering].
1984 - Indian Law Seminar - Anchorage, Alaska - [Alaska Bar Association] - [faculty: delivered presentation on "Alaska Native sovereignty claims"].
1985 - Biennial Oil Spill Conference - Los Angeles, CA - [Environmental Protection Agency/U.S. Coast Guard/American Petroleum Institute] - [faculty: delivered paper and presentation on "Legal Contingency Planning for Oil Spills"].
1989 - Annual Coastal Pollution Conference - Newport, R.I. - [Environmental Protection Agency/National Association of Attorneys General] - [faculty: chaired and participated in panels on emergency legal responses to major oil spills and on natural resources damage assessment].
1989 - Annual Alaska Native Law Conference - Anchorage, Alaska - [Alaska Bar Association] - [faculty: delivered presentation on treatment of Alaskan Native sovereignty claims by Alaska state courts, participated in panel on federal and state court treatment of Native rights claims].
1998 and 1999 - Alaska Employment Law Update - Juneau, Alaska - [faculty: delivered training on avoiding liability for sexual harassment and retaliation under federal and state law]
1999 - Alaska Land Laws Issues - Juneau, Alaska - [contracted by U.S. Forest Service to deliver training in major federal land laws and history of federal jurisdiction to Forest Service supervisors from Tongass and Chugach National Forests]
1999 - Alaska Environmental Law Update, Governmental Institutes [Chairman and faculty], intensive course on current state of Federal and State environmental law and permitting in Alaska.
2008 – University Forum on Civil Rights Law, invited participant in forum on free speech rights of students, St. Johns University Law School, New York.
2008 – Invited guest lecturer, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University, UK, on Legal, Political, Diplomatic, and Social Aspects of Climate Change in the Arctic.
Personal information:
Married since 1984 to Margo W. Waring, one son.
President, Juneau World Affairs Council (2007 to 2009), current Board Member
Clerk, Alaska Friends Conference (Quakers) (2006 to present)
Member of the Corporation, American Friends Service Committee, 1995-2001.
Member and Recording Clerk, Quaker United Nations Committee, 2000-2005.
Member of Board of Directors of Juneau Montessori Center, 1989-1992; President of the Board, 1990-1992.
Member of Board of Directors of Fairbanks (AK) Community Mental Health Center,1978-80; vice- president of the board, 1979-80.
