List of first women lawyers and judges in Delaware

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Delaware. 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 graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Delaware's history

Law School

• First female to complete law school without first attending college: Helen Balick (1969) in 1966 ^{[1] [2]}

Lawyers

• First females (1923): Evangilyn Barsky and Sybil Ward ^[3]
• First female prosecutor: Marguerite Hopkins Bodziak in 1933 ^[4]
• First Hispanic American (female) (1976): Aida Waserstein ^{[4] [5]}
• First African American female (1977): Paulette Sullivan Moore ^[6]
• First Latino American female of Puerto Rican descent (1980): Nivea Castro ^{[7] [8]}
• First South Asian Indian (female): Shakuntla Bhaya ^[9]

State judges

• First female: Roxana Cannon Arsht (1941) in 1971 ^{[10] [11]}
• First female (Court of Chancery): Carolyn Berger (1976) in 1984 ^[12]
• First female (Delaware Superior Court): Susan C. Del Pesco in 1988 ^[13]
• First African American female: Haile L. Alford in 1992 ^{[14] [15]}
• First female magistrate (Chief Magistrate; Justice of the Peace Court): Patricia W. Griffin in 1993 ^[16]
• First female (Delaware Supreme Court): Carolyn Berger (1976) in 1994 ^[12]
• First Hispanic American (female): Aida Waserstein in 1996 ^{[4] [5]}
• First female (Delaware Court of Common Pleas): Rosemary Betts Beauregard in 1999 ^[17]
• First female (Chief Judge; Delaware Family Court): Chandlee Johnson Kuhn in 2003 ^[11]
• First African American female (Delaware Family Court): Arlene M. Coppadge in 2003 ^[4]
• First female (commissioner; Delaware Court of Common Pleas): Mary M. McDonough in 2004 ^[4]
• First Hispanic American (female) (Justice of the Peace Court): Michelle Jewell in 2010
• First Hispanic American (female) (Delaware Superior Court): Vivian L. Medinilla (née Rapposelli) in 2013 ^[1]
• First (openly lesbian) female (President of the Delaware Superior Court): Jan R. Jurden in 2015 ^{[18] [19]}
• First African American (female) (Supreme Court of Delaware): Tamika Montgomery-Reeves in 2020 ^[20]
• First African American females (Delaware Court of Common Pleas): Rae M. Sims and Monica A. Horton in 2020. ^{[21] [22]} Horton, who is biracial, also became the first Asian American (female) judge in Delaware upon her appointment.
• First (female) South Asian (Delaware Superior Court): Sonia Augusthy in 2025 ^[23]

Federal judges

• First female (United States Bankruptcy Court): Helen Balick (1969) in 1974 ^{[1] [2]}
• First female (United States District Court for the District of Delaware): Jane Richards Roth in 1985 ^{[1] [24]}
• First female (United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit): Jane Richards Roth in 1991 ^{[1] [24]}
• First female (Chief Judge; United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit): Sue Lewis Robinson in 2000 ^[24]

Assistant United States Attorney

• First female: Peggy L. Ableman from 1979-1983 ^[25]

Attorney General of Delaware

• First female: M. Jane Brady (1977) from 1995-2005 ^[26]

Deputy Attorney General

• First female: Ruth Farrell in 1962 ^[27]

Political Office

• First female (House of Representatives): Melanie George Smith in 2002 ^[1]

Delaware State Bar Association

• First female president: Susan C. Del Pesco ^[13]

Firsts in local history

• Frances M. "Mickey" Messina: ^[28] First female to serve as a Commissioner for the Kent County Levy Court (1972)
• Cathleen Hutchison: ^[29] First female to serve as Deputy Chief Magistrate for the Justice of the Peace Court in Kent County, Delaware (2017)
• Marguerite Hopkins Bodziak (1931): ^{[11] [3]} First female to serve as an Assistant City Solicitor in Wilmington, Delaware (1933) [ New Castle County, Delaware]
• Sara Pennington: ^[30] First female magistrate in New Castle County, Delaware (1953)
• Phila Furry George: ^[31] First female lawyer for the Hercules Powder Company in Wilmington, Delaware (1943) [New Castle County, Delaware]
• Haile L. Alford: ^{[14] [15]} First African American female to serve on the Superior Court of New Castle County (1992)
• Lisa Roberson Hatfield: ^[32] First female to serve as the Alderman's Court for Newark (2007)
• Jan R. Jurden: ^[18] First female to become President of the New Castle County Superior Court, Delaware (2012)
• Battle Robinson (1971): ^[33] First female lawyer in Sussex County, Delaware
• Rosemary Betts Beauregard: ^[17] First female judge in Sussex County, Delaware
• Michelle Jewell: First Hispanic American magistrate in Sussex County, Delaware

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• Timeline of women lawyers in the United States
• Women in law

Other topics of interest

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Delaware

References

1. DeMatteis, Claire M. (2014). "ARTICLE: WOMEN AND THE DELAWARE BAR AND BENCH: IT TAKES GENERATIONS". Del. L. Rev. 14: 125.
2. Delaware Lawyer: A Publication of Delaware Bar Foundation. The Foundation. 1998.
3. Paradee, Jacqueline P. (Fall 1993). "Delaware's First Women Lawyers: The Flow of Acceptability" (PDF). Delaware Lawyer, 11:3. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
4. "Program from Celebration of 95 Years of Women in the Delaware Bar – August 23, 2018". Justice Randy J. Holland Memorial. October 31, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
5. "House Administration Committee Meeting Minutes". HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: STATE OF DELAWARE. January 9, 2019.
6. "Black Women in Delaware's History". www1.udel.edu. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
7. "Defying the Stereotype, a Latina Lawyer's Rite of Passage by Nivea Castro - Wendy Angulo Productions". www.wendyanguloproductions.com. January 4, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
8. "Bar examination yields 77 new lawyers". The Morning News. October 24, 1980. p. 19. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
9. "Meet the Indian American lawyer appointed to a key position by Biden - Commonwealth Union". November 17, 2023. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
10. "Roxana Cannon Arsht, Delaware's first female judge" . Retrieved January 3, 2018.
11. DeMatteis, Claire M. (2014). "WOMEN AND THE DELAWARE BAR AND BENCH: IT TAKES GENERATIONS" (PDF). Delaware Law Review.
12. "Del. Supreme Court Justice Berger to retire". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
13. "History: Our Judicial Officers - About Us - Superior Court - Delaware Courts - State of Delaware". courts.delaware.gov. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
14. "Investiture of the Honorable Haile L. Alford" (PDF). 1992.
15. "History: Our Judicial Officers - About Us - Superior Court - Delaware Courts - State of Delaware". courts.delaware.gov. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
16. Delaware Lawyer: A Publication of Delaware Bar Foundation. The Foundation. 2000.
17. "History - Court of Common Pleas - Delaware Courts - State of Delaware". courts.delaware.gov. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
18. "Jurden becomes first female president of Superior Court". delawareonline. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
19. Cohen, Celia (December 2, 2014). "JURDEN JOINS THE LIST FOR JUDICIAL PROMOTIONS". www.delawaregrapevine.com. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
20. Schmidt, Nick Ciolino, Sophia (January 3, 2020). "Delaware's first African-American Supreme Court Justice sworn in". www.delawarepublic.org. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
21. Oberste, Mae (September 1, 2021). "Notable "Firsts" of the Court of Common Pleas". DSBA Bar Journal. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
22. Danberg, Carl C. "2021 Annual Report of the Delaware Judiciary" (PDF). Courts of Delaware.
23. Karp, Jack. "Meet The 1st South Asian Judge On Delaware Superior Court - Law360 Pulse". www.law360.com. Retrieved May 23, 2025.
24. Gaza, Anna Shea (September 2017). "Hon. Jane Richards Roth: Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit" (PDF). The Federal Lawyer.
25. "Ableman, Peggy L. | Professionals | McCarter & English". www.mccarter.com. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
26. "Judge Brady Sworn In, Opens Up". courts.delaware.gov. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
27. "Our History". www.morrisjames.com. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
28. Dear, Sophie F. (December 2007). "First and only female Levy Court Commissioner passes" (PDF). Kent Connections.
29. "Kent County's first DCM".
30. "Sara Pennington, first female Justice of the Peace in New Castle County, 1953-1961". The News Journal. February 23, 1993. p. 14. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
31. "Phila Furry George: Obituary". The News Journal. June 29, 1996. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
32. Neff, Christine (December 21, 2007). "New Alderman Takes Office" (PDF). Newark Post.
33. DeMatteis, Claire M. (2014). "WOMEN AND THE DELAWARE BAR AND BENCH: IT TAKES GENERATIONS". Delaware Law Review. 14: 125.