The Alaska Public Defender Agency has 13 offices representing indigent clients across the State of Alaska.  Nine of our offices are in locations not accessible by road and require travel, in and out, by plane or boat.  Travel for all of our attorneys to conferences and workshops to complete annual continuing legal education requirements would not only be difficult, but cost-prohibitive.

NAPD webinars and workshops have enabled our attorneys – all of whom are NAPD members – to participate and learn from experienced colleagues across the country with ease. We often create an agenda of CLEs using both live and archived webinars and play them throughout the day in our conference room so that attorneys can stop in and watch as they have time. Some of our rural offices have limited bandwidth, making streaming webinars difficult. But with the archived webinars we are able to download content and export programs to even our most remote offices.

Recently, the Alaska Bar Association accepted NAPD as an accredited CLE provider, making the process of receiving credit for NAPD trainings automatic.  This was only possible because of the high quality trainings produced through the dedication and hard work of NAPD and its members.

(Editor's Note: Photo provided by Jay Hochberg, of the Ketchican Public Defender Agency)