A Juneau jury awarded almost $1.2 million to a former Alaska Department of Law attorney this week, finding at trial that the department failed to follow state laws governing promotions and then wrongfully fired her when she complained.
Joan Wilkerson, the attorney who filed a lawsuit in 2018 against the department, said she hopes the case will change the way the department handles cases like hers and said she has gotten “a lot of notes and expressions of appreciation” from current attorneys.
“I’ve done the right thing, and it cost me a lot,” she said.
“The Department of Law acknowledges and appreciates the jury’s service in Wilkerson v. Department of Law,” the agency said in a written statement issued in response to questions. “It remains the department’s position that the termination was done in accordance with the law, and the department will evaluate options regarding an appeal in the coming days.”
Jahna Lindemuth, attorney general under former Gov. Bill Walker and Wilkerson’s ultimate supervisor at the time of her firing, did not return messages seeking comment on Friday.
Kevin Higgins is a civil attorney seeking to organize a union of attorneys who are public employees. He said the case “is absolutely something I would point to and have pointed to as to why we should have a union.”
With a collective bargaining agreement, “there are lots of points along the way that could have prevented the result we saw here,” he said.
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