Daily Sitka Sentinel

Governor Picks Pate To Be Judge in Sitka T

By Sentinel Staff
    Gov. Walker has picked Jude Pate, an attorney in the state public defender’s office in Sitka, to succeed David George as Superior Court Judge in Sitka.
    George has announced plans to retire in August.

Jude Pate (Sentinel Photo)

    Pate was one of two finalists for the Sitka court position. The other was Julie Willoughby of Juneau, a former assistant district attorney in Sitka.
    “It’s an honor to serve,” Pate said today when asked for a comment about his appointment.
    Six people originally applied for the Sitka Superior Court position, but one withdrew his application. That left Lance Joanis of Kenai, Margaret McWilliams of Juneau, Pate, David Roghair of Barrow, and Willoughby.
    After a series of interviews, the nonpartisan Alaska Judicial Council voted to name Willoughby and Pate the finalists for the position. Under Alaska’s judicial selection process, the AJC winnows the list of applicants for judicial vacancies and recommends a short list of finalists to the governor, who makes the final decision from that list of finalists.
    Unlike the selection process for legislative vacancies, the governor must choose a judge from the AJC’s list of finalists.
    A survey conducted by the Alaska Bar Association gave Pate and Willoughby high marks for competence, integrity, fairness, judicial temperament and suitability for the job. Pate scored a 4.6 on the scale that goes from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Willoughby received a 4.2 overall; the two had the highest marks of all applicants for the job.
    In a prepared statement, Walker thanked those who applied for the vacancies statewide.
    “The people of Alaska are privileged to have a great wealth of legal talent in this state, and I am grateful for all the applicants that came forward,” the governor said. “Serving in Alaska’s judicial branch requires deep knowledge of our laws, and great respect for the many different backgrounds and cultures in the Last Frontier. I am confident that Jude, Andrew, and Michael will serve Alaskans well, and make excellent additions to their respective court benches.”
    Pate was born in Nuremberg, Germany, to a U.S. Army family, and  grew up in Kansas and Europe. He graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism but went on to Northwestern for his law degree, his official biography states.
He moved to Sitka in 1993 and worked as the legal counsel for the Sitka Tribe of Alaska until 1999, then switched to private practice for seven years. He has been an assistant public defender in Sitka for the past 12 years.
In his application Pate said he is married and has two sons, and the family enjoys playing games, fishing, hunting and gardening.

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