Kirk Schwalm
Fairbanks Superior Court | Fourth Judicial District
Judge Schwalm was appointed to the Fairbanks Superior Court in June of 2022. This is his first retention election.
Performance Summary
The Alaska Judicial Council finds that Judge Schwalm met or exceeded performance standards and recommends a "YES" vote for his retention in office.
This conclusion is based on surveys and reviews from attorneys, court employees, jurors, and other user groups familiar with the judge's work, analysis of the judge's financial disclosure documents, analysis of how often the judge's decisions were affirmed on appeal, whether their pay was withheld for untimely decisions, how often the judge was disqualified from a case, whether the judge followed standards of ethical conduct and continuing education, input from the public, and the judge's demonstrated commitment to the administration of justice and the community.
The Council’s evaluation process included an opportunity for Judge Schwalm to comment on his own performance.
“Being a judge in my hometown is the best job I could have ever imagined….Overall I try to do my best to make sure every person that appears in my court is heard, treated fairly, and given a timely decision based on the law and the evidence.”
— Judge Schwalm
Detailed Performance Findings
The Council evaluated Judge Schwalm’s performance on legal ability, integrity, impartiality and fairness, judicial temperament, and diligence and administrative skills. Judge Schwalm met or exceeded the standard in each of these areas.
A summary of the Council’s findings on Judge Schwalm's performance is presented here. Complete reports are posted in the source documents below.
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▼ Legal Ability
Did the judge demonstrate knowledge of substantive law, evidence and procedure, and clarity and precision in their work?
Attorneys familiar with Judge Schwalm’s work rated his legal ability as excellent. See chart below for numerical ratings. Attorneys who appeared in cases before him gave positive reviews.
Jurors who served in Judge Schwalm’s courtroom rated his attentiveness, intelligence and skill as excellent.
In Alaska, a party who disagrees with a trial judge’s decision can appeal to a higher court. The appeal court analyzes the judge’s decision and issues an opinion. The Council reviews all the opinions and analyzes how often and why individual judges are affirmed or reversed as one measure of the judge’s legal ability. Judge Schwalm had 4 cases appealed and decided in the evaluation period. This was too few cases to use as a statistical performance measure. He was affirmed in all four cases. A review of the opinions raised no concerns about his legal ability. For more details, see the Appellate Affirmance Report, linked below.
Judge Schwalm met or exceeded educational requirements set by the Alaska Supreme Court.
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▼ Impartiality & Fairness
Did the judge demonstrate a sense of fairness and justice and treat all parties equally?
Attorneys, court employees, peace and probation officers, and social service professionals rated Judge Schwalm’s impartiality and fairness as excellent. See chart below for numerical ratings.
Jurors who served in Judge Schwalm’s courtroom rated his impartiality as excellent. See chart below for numerical ratings.
Court rules allow a litigant at the beginning of a case to file a request for change of judge. Parties whose cases were assigned to Judge Schwalm asked for a different judge more often than usual in 2023 in child protection cases, but this dropped significantly in 2024 and 2025.
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▼ Integrity
Was the judge's conduct free from impropriety or the appearance of impropriety, and did the judge make decisions without regard to possible public criticism?
Attorneys, court employees, peace and probation officers, and social service professionals rated Judge Schwalm’s integrity as excellent. See chart below for numerical ratings.
Judge Schwalm filed financial disclosure statements with the Alaska Public Offices Commission and separate conflict-of-interest forms with the court system as required, and the Council found no items of concern in these disclosures.
The Council confirmed that Judge Schwalm was not the subject of any public disciplinary proceedings before the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, and that he followed standards of ethical conduct for judges.
Judges must disqualify themselves from cases where they have a conflict of interest or their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. The Council found no concern about Judge Schwalm’s performance on this requirement.
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▼ Judicial Temperament
Was the judge courteous and free from arrogance, and did the judge manifest human understanding and compassion?
Attorneys, court employees, peace and probation officers, and social service professionals rated Judge Schwalm’s judicial temperament as excellent. See chart below for numerical ratings.
Jurors who served in Judge Schwalm’s courtroom rated him as excellent on respectful and courteous behavior.
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▼ Diligence & Administrative Skills
Was the judge prepared for court proceedings, did the judge work diligently, and was the judge reasonably prompt in making decisions?
Attorneys, court employees, peace and probation officers, and social service professionals rated Judge Schwalm’s diligence and administrative skills as excellent. See chart below for numerical ratings.
Under Alaska law, a judge cannot receive a paycheck if they have any decision undecided or uncompleted for more than six months. Each pay cycle, judges must sign an affidavit declaring that no matter referred to them has remained undecided or uncompleted for more than six months. The Council verified that Judge Schwalm was paid on schedule, and he certified that he had no untimely decisions.
Judge Schwalm demonstrated commitment to improving the administation of justice and to community outreach. Judge Schwalm:
- Serves on the court system’s Family Rules Committee, a group that drafts, reviews, and recommends improvements in family law case procedures to the Alaska Supreme Court;
- Volunteered as a judge at an elementary school science fair;
- Spoke to students participating in the Fairbanks Junior District Attorney program;
- Spoke to students in a high school government class in Tok;
- Spoke to foster youth and parents at the court’s foster care open house; and
- Presides over cases in the court system’s Early Resolution program, an effort designed to bring speedy resolution to relatively low conflict family law cases.
See Judge Schwalm's retention questionnaire for more information.
The Judicial Council distributed electronic surveys to attorneys, court employees, jurors, peace and probation officers, and social service professionals asking them to rate Judge Schwalm’s performance on key skills. Survey ratings from these groups are shown in the charts below.
