Alaska Supreme Court bans disgraced federal judge from practicing law in the state
- Alaska Beacon
- Nov 7, 2025
- 2 min read
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska Supreme Court has disbarred former U.S. District Court Judge Josh Kindred, banning him from practicing law in the state, “effective immediately.”
The court’s decision was announced Friday, a little over three months after the Alaska Bar Association recommended the action.
Kindred, recommended by Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, was appointed by President Donald Trump to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in 2019 and confirmed to the office in 2020.
He resigned last year after investigators found that he had a “sexualized relationship” with a clerk who became a prosecutor and lied about it to a senior judge and investigators, and maintained a hostile workplace for law clerks.
Since his resignation, the outcome of dozens of criminal and civil cases has been called into question because of the relationship between Kindred and the prosecutor, and one conviction has already been tossed out.
After Kindred’s resignation, an attorney filed a complaint with the Alaska Bar Association, which regulates attorneys in the state.
The association ordered an investigation that concluded Kindred’s actions had caused “grievous harm” to the practice of law in the state, and it voted to recommend that he be stripped of his license.
In Alaska, such an action requires approval by the Alaska Supreme Court.
Two of the court’s five justices — Jennifer Henderson and Aimee Oravec — recused themselves from the proceedings in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
According to a court official, Henderson’s husband was friends with Kindred before his resignation, and Oravec’s husband was Kindred’s coworker for a time.
The remaining three justices — Chief Justice Susan Carney, Justice Dario Borghesan, and Justice Jude Pate — voted unanimously to “adopt the findings and conclusions of the disciplinary board.”
They ordered Kindred be “disbarred from the practice of law in Alaska, effective immediately.”
Kindred must also pay $1,000 in costs and attorney fees to the Alaska Bar Association within 60 days.
If he seeks to have his law license restored, he must undergo training “in the area of ethics, law office management, and management of law office accounts” as well as pay restitution in relevant matters.
Kindred did not appear before the Supreme Court or participate in its discussions; he also did not participate in the Bar Association’s investigation.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
