Dana Fabe

Dana Anderson Fabe (born March 29, 1951) is an American lawyer, retired judge, and mediator. She served as a justice of the Alaska Supreme Court from 1996 to 2016, including three terms (2000–2003, 2006–2009, and 2012–2015) as the court's chief justice. She previously served as an Alaska trial court judge for nearly eight years, from 1988 to 1996. Fabe was the first woman appointed to the Alaska Supreme Court, as well as its first female chief justice. Early life and education Fabe was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1951. She grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood and attended the Seven Hills School. Fabe earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the Northeastern University School of Law in 1976. Career After completing law school in 1976, Fabe moved to Alaska for a clerkship with Justice Edmond Burke on the Alaska Supreme Court. Following her one-year clerkship, in 1977 she accepted a position as a staff attorney for the Alaska Public Defender Agency, working first in appeals, then misdemeanor trials, then felony trials, and then as head of the appellate division. In 1981, she was appointed by Alaska Governor Jay Hammond as the chief public defender for Alaska, replacing Brian Shortell when he became a judge. She served in that position until 1988, when she became a judge herself.