Lisa Murkowski - Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Murkowski was born in Ketchikan, Alaska, the daughter of Nancy R. (née Gore) and Frank Murkowski. Her paternal great-grandfather was of Polish descent, and her mother had Irish and French Canadian ancestry. As a child, she and her family moved all over the state due to her father's job as a banker.

Murkowski earned a B.A. in economics from Georgetown University in 1980, the same year her father was elected to the U.S. Senate. She is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She received her law degree from Willamette University College of Law in 1985. She failed the bar exam four times before passing it in 1987 when she became a member of the Alaska Bar Association. She was employed as an attorney in the Anchorage District Court Clerk's office, working there from 1987 to 1989. She was an attorney in private practice in Anchorage, Alaska from 1989 to 1998. She also served, from 1990 to 1991, on the mayor's task force on the homeless.