The Alaska Rules of Court are the rules for the administration of all courts in the state and for practice and procedure in civil and criminal cases established by the supreme court under the authority of the Alaska Constitution. The supreme court has also adopted rules for the practice of law in Alaska and procedural rules for children's matters, probate, and appeals.
The current Rules are available above, and the print version is available at all Alaska Court System law libraries and some public libraries. The official publisher of the Alaska Rules of Court is Tower Publishing. Their toll-free number is 1-800-969-8693.
Most Alaska rules are enacted and amended by supreme court order (SCO), which the court issues on a periodic basis. Print versions of all SCOs are available at the Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks law libraries. The Alaska Legislature may also change the court's procedural rules by passing an act expressing its intent to do so by a two-thirds majority of both houses. The Alaska Legislature website provides information about pending legislation.
Complete unannotated Alaska Rules of Court
Including any currently effective, recent rule changes adopted after the print edition's publication deadline.
All Court Rules are provided as PDFs with bookmarks. Please see these instructions to copy content from the PDFs.
Note: The District Court Rules of Criminal Procedure were rescinded or renumbered in 2013.
Attention: These instructions are NOT for persons who have been summoned for trial or grand jury service.
Pattern jury instructions are used by the trial judge to instruct members of the jury on the law applicable in the case before them. Lawyers may also use pattern jury instructions as they prepare for trial to ensure they address all the elements of their case.
The Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instructions and Alaska Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions are available online on the Court's website. The Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instructions are also available in print at the Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau Alaska State Court Law Libraries. These instructions have not been approved or promulgated by any court or the Alaska Bar Association.
Rule changes since the Fall publication of the main edition of the Alaska Rules of Court.
Currently no requests for comments.
(Comments are due by Monday, October 3, 2022)
The Alaska Supreme Court seeks comments on the following proposed rule changes. Proposed changes to existing rules are shown in “legislative” style: new language is underlined, and deleted language is struck through. Except as otherwise indicated, new text is not underlined when a new rule is proposed or when an existing rule is rescinded and readopted.
Comments are due by Monday, October 3, 2022. Please direct your comments to Haley Porter via email at hporter@akcourts.gov, or use the mailing address shown below. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Stacy Steinberg
Court Rules Attorney
Alaska Court System
820 West 4th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501
SSteinberg@akcourts.gov
The Alaska Supreme Court seeks comments on the following proposed rule changes. Proposed changes to existing rules are shown in “legislative” style: new language is underlined, and deleted language is struck through. Except as otherwise indicated, new text is not underlined when a new rule is proposed or when an existing rule is rescinded and readopted.
*Proposed changes to existing rules are shown in “legislative” style: new language is underlined, and deleted language is struck through.
Please direct your comments via email to hflint@akcourts.us or by mail to:
Court Rules Attorney
Alaska Court System
820 West 4th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501
Comments are due by Monday, January 25, 2021. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Proposed Changes to the Probate Rules
--> Comments are due by Friday, January 13, 2017
You may email your comments to Judy Francis-Woods.
Venue means place of trial.
Criminal Rule 18 explains how to use the court system's venue map (4.03 MB) to determine the place where a defendant's trial will be held.
The venue map includes a chart (also available separately) that shows the presumptive trial site for each community
In addition to the presumptive trial sites shown on the venue map and community chart, there is also a list of approved additional trial sites in Administrative Bulletin 27. As explained in Criminal Rule 18(e), a defendant may ask the court to transfer the trial to one of those sites if it is:
Judicial district lines are also shown on the venue map.
*Please be advised that the posted venue map is current through July 1, 2015. The supreme court has since approved additional changes to the venue map but the revised map is not yet available. The revised venue map:
Note: The separately posted community chart is up-to-date.
Because it is a very large file, it takes about 45 seconds to open.
Hold down the Control (Ctrl) key and hit 1 to enlarge the map to its full (100%) size. (If you want to enlarge it more or less, click on the down arrow next to the percent field near the center of the tool bar above the map and select the size you want.)
Click on the hand icon on the tool bar to turn the cursor into a hand. Use the hand cursor to drag the map left or up until you see the area of the state you want to look at.
Click on the magnifying glass icon to zoom in or zoom out on a specific area.
Once you have downloaded the map you may print it on any printer or plotter you have access to. You may also take the PDF file to a commercial printer and have them print it at your expense.
