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About the Alaska Rules of Court

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.

Current Rules of Court

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Note: The District Court Rules of Criminal Procedure were rescinded or renumbered in 2013.

Pattern Jury Instructions

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.

Recent Rule Changes

Rule changes since the Fall publication of the main edition of the Alaska Rules of Court.

Administration

Rule 16 - amended by SCO 2036, effective April 15, 2025
Rule 23(d) - amended by SCO 2032, effective November 11, 2024
Rule 33 - rescinding and readopted by SCO 2027, effective December 18, 2024

Appellate Procedure

Rules 216, 216.5, 218, 221, 303, 403, 404, and 503 - amended by SCO 2035, effective April 15, 2025
Rules 201.1, 202, and 210 - amended by SCO 2028, effective April 15, 2025
Rule 212(c)(9) - amended by SCO 2029, effective April 15, 2025
Rule 215(c) - amended by SCO 2034, effective December 18, 2024
Rule 508 - amended by SCO 2028, effective April 15, 2025
Rule 517.2 - adopted by SCO 2029, effective April 15, 2025
Rule 604 - amended by SCO 2028, effective April 15, 2025

Bar

Rule 53(d) - amended by SCO 2037, effective March 6, 2025
Rules 2, 3, 43, 43.1, 43.3, 43.4, and 44 - amended by SCO 2031, effective November 18, 2024

Civil Procedure

Rules 4 and 5 - added a note by SCO 2030, effective January 1, 2025
Rules 26 - added a note by SCO 2033, effective January 1, 2025

Criminal Procedure

Rule 6(s) - amended and added a note by SCO 2030, effective January 1, 2025
Rule 16(d)(3)(A)(ix) - amended by SCO 2034, effective December 18, 2024
Rule 16(e) - amended by SCO 2039, effective October 15, 2025
Rules 45(d) and 16(e)(1) - adopted by SCO 2038, effective May 12, 2025 **
** only applies to pretrial pending criminal cases filed before January 1, 2023

Evidence

Rules 402 and 501 - added a note by SCO 2033, effective January 1, 2025

Request for Comments

Currently no requests for comments.

Venue Map

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:

within the venue district where the crime charged is alleged to have occurred, and
is the trial site nearest to the place where the crime charged is alleged to have occurred.

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:

Eliminates the Craig trial court and substitutes the Prince of Wales trial court at Klawock as the presumptive district and superior court trial site for Coffman Cove, Craig, Edna Bay, Hollis, Hydaburg, Kasaan, Klawock, Naukati Bay, Thorne Bay, Waterfall, and Whale Pass. SCO 1870(3), effective May 15, 2016; and
Renames the Barrow trial court as Utqiagvik, SCO 1916(3), effective January 1, 2018.

Note: The separately posted community chart is up-to-date.

Information About the Map

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.

View the venue map (4.03 MB)

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.