The Alaska Supreme Court has ordered disgraced former U.S. District Court Judge Joshua Kindred to be disbarred, meaning he is no longer allowed to practice law in Alaska.
In an order published Friday, the three state Supreme Court justices deciding the case agreed with the Alaska Bar Association that Kindred – who resigned in 2024 from a lifetime appointment as a federal judge – should lose his license to practice law in Alaska. Two justices recused themselves.
Kindred did not participate in the formal proceedings, which began when the Bar Association filed a petition for disbarment in mid-September, according to the order and attached documents.
“I think the order itself, it speaks for itself,” said Phil Shanahan, counsel for the Bar Association. “Mr. Kindred didn’t participate, which probably made it a little bit faster than it would have been had a lawyer participated in the process.”
Mirroring a report from the federal 9th Circuit Judicial Council released days after Kindred’s resignation, the 67-page Alaska Supreme Court order includes information about Kindred’s inappropriate, sexualized relationships with two federal prosecutors, including a woman who had served as one of his law clerks. Other allegations included that Kindred created a hostile, sexualized work environment and that he lied to investigators about the relationships, which, in the case of one federal prosecutor, involved her sending him nude photos.
Kindred’s resignation and the unfolding scandal caused the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Alaska, where the two prosecutors worked, to review dozens of cases for potential conflicts of interest. At least two defendants have won new trials, after their attorneys argued inappropriate relationships among federal prosecutors and the judge resulted in their clients getting unfair treatment.
