List of first women lawyers and judges in Massachusetts

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Massachusetts. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to obtain a law degree or become a political figure

Firsts in state history

  • Lelia J. Robinson (1882):[1] First female lawyer in Massachusetts
  • Emma L. Schofield Fall (c. 1908):[2] First female Assistant Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • Jennie Loitman Barron (c. 1914):[3] First female Associate of the Massachusetts Superior Court (c. 1959)
  • Ethel E. Mackiernan (c. 1918):[4] First female judge in Massachusetts (1918)
  • Branche E. Braxton (1923):[5] First African American female lawyer in Massachusetts. She is also the first African American female lawyer to practice in the United States District Court in Massachusetts in 1933.
  • Jacqueline R. Guild Lloyd (1933):[5] First African American female lawyer to follow her father to the bar and practice law with him
  • Margaret Burnham:[6][7] First African American female judge in Massachusetts (1977)
  • María López:[8] First Latina American female appointed as a Judge of the District Court (1988) and Justice of the Supreme Court (1993)
  • Barbara Lenk (1979):[9] First openly LGBT female appointed as a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court (2011)
  • Carmen Ortiz (1981):[10] First female (and Hispanic American female) to be appointed as the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts (2009)
  • Indira Talwani (1988):[11] First Asian Pacific American female appointed as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (2014)
  • Sabita Singh (1990):[12] First Indian American female judge in Massachusetts
  • Denise J. Casper (1994):[13] First African American female appointed as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • Debra Shopteese:[14] First Native American (Sac and Fox Nation) female judge in Massachusetts (2011)
  • Eleanor Coe Sinnott:[15] First Korean American female judge in Massachusetts (2014)
  • Maura Healey (1998):[16] First openly LGBT female to become a state attorney general in the U.S. and Massachusetts (2015)

Firsts in local history

Alphabetized by county name

  • Harriet L. Kilbourne (1897):[17] First female admitted to the Berkshire County Bar Association [Berkshire County, Massachusetts]
  • Mary E. Hyde:[18] First female lawyer in Fall River, Massachusetts [Bristol County, Massachusetts]
  • Elvah H. Young (1899):[19] First female lawyer in Hampden County, Massachusetts
  • Louise Larzelere Chatham (1923):[20] First female lawyer in Lycoming County, Massachusetts
  • Haben Girma (2013):[21] First deafblind graduate (who is also female and of Eritrean-Ethiopian descent) of Harvard Law School [Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
  • Addie Gillette (1897):[22] First female lawyer in Worchester County, Massachusetts; Stephanie Grant was the first female lawyer admitted to the Worchester Bar in 1908.[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Robinson, Lelia Josephine | School of Law". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  2. ↑ "News Items" (PDF). Women Lawyers' Journal. 2:4. February 1913.
  3. ↑ "Jennie Loitman Barron". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  4. ↑ "Women's Legal History | Biographical Search". Women's Legal History. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  5. 1 2 Jr, J. Clay Smith (1999). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844–1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812216857.
  6. ↑ Holloran, Peter C. (2017-05-01). Historical Dictionary of New England. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538102190.
  7. ↑ "Law professor Margaret Burnham named Carnegie Fellow". Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  8. ↑ Ruiz, Vicki L.; Korrol, Virginia Sánchez (2006-05-03). Latinas in the United States, set: A Historical Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253111692.
  9. ↑ SALSBERG, BOB. "Barbara Lenk, state's first gay SJC justice, confirmed by Governor's Council". The Herald News, Fall River, MA. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  10. ↑ "U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz Announces Departure". www.justice.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  11. ↑ "Indian-American Indira Talwani confirmed as federal judge in Massachusetts". The Economic Times. 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  12. ↑ Staff, Mass. Lawyers Weekly (2017-06-22). "Council confirms Singh, Donatelle for judgeships". Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  13. ↑ "Federal judge breaks new ground as first black woman to sit on bench in Massachusetts - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
  14. ↑ "JP Resident Becomes First Native American Judge in Mass". Jamaica Plain, MA Patch. 2011-09-22. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  15. ↑ "Massachusetts' 1st Korean judge balances identity, education and social intelligence – The Korea Times". www.koreatimesus.com. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  16. ↑ "Maura Healey will be the nation's first openly gay AG - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  17. ↑ "Women Attorneys-At-Law". wlh-static.law.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  18. ↑ Allard, Deborah. "Four Fall River women who were ahead of their time". The Herald News, Fall River, MA. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  19. ↑ Smith, Frank Charles; Proctor, Lucien Brock; Chapin, Heman Gerald; Harvey, Richard Selden (1899). The American Lawyer. Stumpf & Steurer.
  20. ↑ "Louise Larzelere Chatham: The first woman lawyer in Lycoming County". www.lycolaw.org. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  21. ↑ "Haben Girma". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  22. 1 2 "Edna Ione Smith Tyler, business woman, Worcester, MA (1861–1930) | Window On Your Past". windowonyourpast.com. Retrieved 2017-10-16.
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