Walter Louis "Bud" Carpeneti (born January 25, 1945) is an American lawyer and jurist, who served as the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court from 2009 to 2012. He attended Stanford University and Berkeley School of Law. A Californian, Carpeneti moved to Alaska to clerk for two earlier Alaska Supreme Court justices.

Early life and education

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Carpeneti was the son of

San Francisco Superior Court The Superior Court of California of the County of San Francisco is the Superior Courts of California, state superior court with jurisdiction over the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco. History In 1976 the Court helped to create the ...

Judge Walter I. Carpeneti. After receiving an Bachelor of Arts in history from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1967 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1970, the younger Carpeneti became a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Alaska Supreme Court Justices

John H. Dimond John Henry Dimond (December 28, 1918 – June 1985) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Alaska from August 7, 1959 to November 30, 1971. He was one of Alaska's inaugural justices, serving along with Buell Nesbet ...

and Jay Rabinowitz.

Early career

Returning to San Francisco in 1972 after the clerkships, Carpeneti initially entered

private practice Private practice may refer to: *Private sector practice **Practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...

with Melvin Belli before joining in private practice with his father, retired Judge Walter I. Carpeneti, and his brother, Richard Carpeneti. Leaving the family law practice, Carpeneti returned to Alaska in 1974 to join the Alaska

Public Defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

Agency as supervising attorney of its

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

office. He left the Public Defender Agency in 1978 to enter private practice with William T. Council. During this time, he was a member of the Alaska Judicial Council and of the committee that drafted the Alaska rules of evidence. He was also the reporter to the Supreme Court's Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee.

Alaska judicial service

On October 15, 1981, Governor Jay Hammond appointed Carpeneti to the

Alaska Superior Court The Alaska Court System is the unified, centrally administered, and totally state-funded judicial system for the state of Alaska. The Alaska District Courts are the primary misdemeanor trial courts, the Alaska Superior Courts are the primary felony ...

. While on the Superior Court, he was a member of the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct and of the Three-Judge Sentencing Panel. He was also chair of the Supreme Court's Criminal Sentencing Practices and Procedures Committee. In 1998, Governor Tony Knowles, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, appointed Carpeneti to the Alaska Supreme Court. While on the Supreme Court, he chaired its Judicial Education Committee. Carpeneti served as the 16th chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court from 2009 to 2012. During his term as chief justice, he also served as second vice president on the board of directors of the national Conference of Chief Justices.Press Release, Alaska Court System, June 15, 2012, http://www.courts.alaska.gov/media/pr-carpeneti6-12.pdf.

Family life

In 1969, Carpeneti married Anne Dose, with whom he has four children: Chris, Marianna, Lia, and Bianca.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpeneti, Walter L. 1945 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Chief justices of the Alaska Supreme Court Alaska state court judges Justices of the Alaska Supreme Court Lawyers from San Francisco Politicians from Juneau, Alaska Stanford University alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni