Rachel K. Berngartt, DVM.
Dr. Rachel K. Berngartt originally hails from Ohio but has made Alaska her home since 2002. She took a “3-month job” in Fairbanks and has never looked back. Dr. Rachel is a 2001 graduate of the Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine. She has practiced veterinary medicine on a wide array of critters ranging from horses to sled dogs to seals along with many other species, both domestic and wild. She has worked for and with private non-profits, government agencies, private businesses, and owns her own veterinary business. Her veterinary work has led her to participate in the United States Antarctic Program based out of McMurdo Station on 7 different occasions working on Weddell Seal research projects. She has published in many peer-reviewed scientific journals and has broad speaking and teaching experience.
Dr. Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Seattle University School of Law in May 2020 and was admitted to the Alaska Bar in November 2020. She was the recipient of numerous merit-based scholarships during her schooling and received CALI Awards (a national law school awards program) for outstanding achievement in Legal Writing, Torts, and Gender & Law Studies. During law school, Dr. Rachel focused on all aspects of contracts and drafting, with particular interest in law as it relates to science (such as biomedical ethics) and law as it relates to assisting people with pets, whether that be in situations of divorce, homelessness, or domestic violence. Dr. Rachel interned during summer 2019 at Seed Intellectual Property, in their biomedical division, located in Seattle, WA, doing patent prosecution and landscape analysis. She then externed for a semester at the District Attorney’s office here in Juneau prosecuting crimes at the state level and gained valuable trial experience and motion practice drafting skills. Finally, she externed at the Attorney General’s Office in Juneau, once again in the criminal division but focused solely on legislative affairs, gaining beneficial knowledge on all aspects of policy, lawmaking, and the legislative process.
Volunteerism is a core practice for Dr. Rachel and she has served on many various boards and committees, which have provided vast knowledge and expertise in the areas of federal, state, and city law as it relates to operations of private non-profits, for profit business, academia, and professional licensing. Dr. Rachel currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Veterinary Examiners, which is the State of Alaska licensing body for veterinarians, tasked with protecting the public and ensuring the competency of veterinarians. She also currently serves on the Regulatory Policy Task Force for the American Association of Veterinary State Boards and is a volunteer veterinarian with the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Dr. Rachel has also served as a member on the CBJ Animal Advisory Board, as a volunteer veterinarian for the Iditarod, and as a scientific member of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Animal Care and Use Committee.
Current memberships include the Juneau Bar Association, the Alaska Bar Association, the American Veterinary Medical Law Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Dr. Rachel looks forward to serving Juneau and Alaskans in areas of litigation, family law, contracts, animal law, and science law.
