About Our Firm

Libbey Law Offices - We Are Family

The Libbey Law Offices consist of Robert Libbey, a senior member of the bar, and his son Daniel Libbey and daughter-in-law Colleen Libbey. Robert Libbey has been practicing law in Anchorage since 1963 when he joined with Wendell Kay and Lester Miller in the firm Kay & Miller. The firm changed to Kay, Miller & Libbey and had other partners rotate in and out until 1974, when Robert Libbey joined with Doug Serdahely to form a personal injury, product liability and criminal defense firm. Several years later the firm became Libbey, Suddock & Hart, and then from 1986 to 1997 it was Libbey & Suddock.

With several of his partners or associates on the bench (John Suddock, Doug Serdahely, Milt Souter, Bill Fuld, and more recently Alex Swiderski), Robert Libbey thought he would slow down practicing law and focus his energy on a horse ranch off the Denali Highway about 100 miles west of Paxson Lake.

However, his son, Daniel Libbey, joined the bar in 2000, and after clerking for Judge Sanders, and working at Oles, Morrison & Rinker, Daniel joined the practice with his father in 2003. Colleen Libbey, originally from Ketchikan and also a 2000 bar admitee, joined the firm at that time after clerking for Judge Gonzales and working at Holmes, Weddell & Barcott. Daniel met Colleen while he was working in Seattle and she was visiting friends. Apparently Daniel made her a Calzone dinner, and after a long distance courtship, they were engaged after six weeks of actual dating and then married in 1996.

Robert says it is "a joy to work with" his son and daughter-in-law and he says he is at that "point in life" where he enjoys every day and appreciates the "younger lawyers who seem much better prepared to practice law" out of law school than his generation was. The practice also includes Robert’s wife Karol as the office manager.

Jackson Brown thought that "the U.S.S.R. will be open soon as vacation land for lawyers in love." Nobody told that to the Libbeys, who instead went on a family ski vacation in Utah this March. They kept in touch with the office by phone-they say. Having seen the video of them skiing together, it is doubtful any work got done, as it should be.

Colleen says she likes working in the family firm and that it is "better than any other job" she has had because of the flexibility, and the willingness "to help each all the time." She sees the relationship with her law partners as "more than just financial."

Known for his professionalism and hard work, Robert Libbey notes that all of the firms he has been with were small firms "that felt like family," so the transition to actual family members was not difficult. Colleen and Daniel have found ways to complement each other’s strength in the practice, with Daniel focusing on construction law, business litigation and criminal defense and Colleen enjoying appellate practice.

All of the lawyers I met with seemed very pleased to work with their family members. They are family, they are partners, and as Sister Sledge might say, "they got all their sisters (and spouses and in-laws) with me."