Salvation Army Clitheroe.     The state's largest alcohol and drug treatment center.   

 Below are some legal avenues that have been tried.

  • The Anchorage Rights Commission has filed the complaint with the EEOC. They said it would be 6 to 8 months until the case was resolved, and if successful the result would not be medical coverage, but rather the value of the medical insurance premiums that would have been paid by the employer, (a few hundred dollars a month). The Anchorage Equal Rights Commission is currently investigating. see here
  • The Alaska commission would not even look at the material because the receptionist said she thought it didn't sound like the kind of thing they would cover.
  • The disability law center is not interested, and referred me to Alaska Legal Services.
  • Legal Services said this would be low priority because it did not involve domestic violence or parental rights. They said I was welcome to fill out an application, but they were very directly not helpful.
There are two employment attorneys in Anchorage.  

  • In August I sent what I had to one Anchorage employment attorney. She reviewed it and declined the case in a very polite letter. In September and October I got most of the papers on the website, as well as the audio, and additional material not on the website. She declined to look at the new material. (Of the more than a dozen Anchorage attorneys I have tried very hard to talk to, she is the only one that has been polite enough to respond decently).  
Full August letter here         
  • Hugh Fleischer, the other employment lawyer in Anchorage, is an acquaintance of a friend of mine. I left a note with my friend to give to mr. Fleischer. After several weeks without a response I sent an email. Then a few weeks later another. And another. So far he has not even sent a polite reply to anything that was sent.
           
  • There is a well known Anchorage attorney who has been involved in some high profile mental health issues. He is president of The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights.
    I sent him 3 emails in early January. He replied:  

    Hi Walter, I'm scheduled to be out of town until the 11th.  Due to my already being overloaded, I just don't see how I can help you with either situation.   I am looking at a crushing workload when I get back. (...)
    You might try Laurel Pedersen or Michael Schneider. People not being able to obtain lawyers is a huge problem that I see all the time.  Unfortunately, I can only do so much myself. I wish you the best of luck.  

    (Neither Laurel Pedersen nor Michael Schneider were interested).

I've spoken to about 10 attorney's offices on the phone, in addition to those I've emailed. Generally I only get to speak to their receptionists. Most have given me referrals. The referrals all go back to ones that have already declined to look at the papers I have.




99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.  
 -anonymous