List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Hawaii. 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 Hawaii's history

Almeda Eliza Hitchcock: First female lawyer in Hawaii (1888)

Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina: Regarded as the first female judge in Hawaii (1892)

Patsy Mink: First Asian American female lawyer in Hawaii (1953)

Law School

• First Hawaiian Nisei female law graduate: Patsy Mink (1953) in 1951 ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Lawyers

• First female (prior to overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii): Almeda Eliza Hitchcock (1888) ^{[4] [5]}
• First female (sign the “Roll of Attorneys” for the federal district court): Elizabeth Helena Ryan (1896) in 1900 ^[4]
• First female (practicing in the Territory of Hawaii): Marguerite Kamehaokalani Ashford (1916) ^[6]
• First Asian American female: Sau Ung Loo Chan (1942) ^[7]
• First Japanese American female: Patsy Mink (1953) ^{[1] [2] [3]}
• First Samoan-born female: Saisamoa F. Grey Price (2017) ^[8]

State judges

• First female (Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Kingdom): ^{[9] [10]} Miriam Kekāuluohi in 1840
• First female (Commissioner of Private Ways and Water Rights): Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina from 1892-1907 ^[11]
• First female (Hawaii Supreme Court): Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1935 ^{[7] [12]}
• First female (district magistrate): Edna Jenkins in 1937 ^[7]
• First female: Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1934 ^{[7] [12]}
• First Asian American female: Marybeth Yuen Maul circa 1957 ^{[13] [14]}
• First female (appointed; Supreme Court of Hawaii): Rhoda Valentine Lewis (c. 1929) in 1959 ^[15]
• First female (family court): Betty Vitousek in 1970 ^[16]
• First female (circuit court): Marie Milks in 1984 ^[17]
• First African American female: Sandra A. Simms in 1991 ^{[18] [19] [20]}
• First female (Second Circuit Court): Harriette L. Holt in 1990 ^{[21] [22] [23] [24]}
• First openly lesbian female (Hawaii Supreme Court): Sabrina McKenna (1982) ^[25] in 2011
• First female of Native Hawaiian descent (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals): Sonja McCullen in 2021 ^[26]

Federal judges

• First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii): Helen W. Gillmor in 1994 ^[27]
• First Asian American female (U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii): Susan Oki Mollway (1981) in 1998 ^[28]
• First Native Hawaiian female (United States District Court for the District of Hawaii): Shanlyn A. S. Park in 2023 ^[29]

Attorney General of Hawaii

• First female (partial term): Corinne K.A. Watanabe (1974) from 1985-1987 ^[30]
• First female (full term): Margery Bronster (1982) from 1995-1999 ^{[31] [32]}

United States Attorney

• First female: Florence T. Nakakuni in 2009 ^[33]

Assistant United States Attorney

• First female: Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1925 ^{[7] [12]}

Political Office

• First Asian-born (Japanese descent) female (senator): Mazie Hirono (1978) in 2012 ^[34]

Hawaii Bar Association

• First female president: Sherry Broder (1975) ^[35]

Firsts in local history

• Carrick Hume Buck (1921): ^{[12] [36]} First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney and Deputy City and County Attorney for Honolulu City-County, Hawaii (1925)
• Jean Vaughan Gilbert (1944): ^[37] First female to serve as the Honolulu City-County Attorney
• Camille A. Nelson: ^[38] First (African American) female to serve as the Dean of the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law (2020)
• Edna Jenkins: ^[7] First female to serve as the district magistrate for Makawao, Hawaii (1937) [ Maui County, Hawaii]
• Linda Breslau Berg: ^[39] First female lawyer in Maui [ Maui County, Hawaii]

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 Hawaii

References

1. Robinson, Greg (September 1, 2016). The Great Unknown: Japanese American Sketches. University Press of Colorado. ISBN   9781607324294.
2. Congressional Record, V. 148, PT. 13, September 20, 2002 to October 1, 2002. Government Printing Office. 2006. ISBN   9780160767746.
3. Zhao, Xiaojian (2009). Asian American Chronology: Chronologies of the American Mosaic. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-0-313-34875-4.
4. "Hawaii Women Lawyers: Non-profit organization serving its members and the community". www.hawaiiwomenlawyers.org. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
5. "Almeda Eliza Hitchcock - Class of: 1888". www.law.umich.edu. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
6. "Marguerite Kamehaokalani Ashford". Newspapers.com. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
7. Matsuda, Mari J. (January 1, 1992). Called from Within: Early Women Lawyers of Hawaiʻi. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN   9780824814489.
8. "A first for a Samoa woman". www.samoanews.com. November 29, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
9. Blair, Chad (August 1998). Money, Color and Sex in Hawaii's Politics. Mutual Publishing LLC. ISBN   978-1-56647-218-0.
10. Frear, Walter F. (1894). "Evolution of the Hawaiian Judiciary". Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society (7). Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. hdl:10524/966.
11. Dekneef, Matthew (March 8, 2017). "15 extraordinary Hawaii women who inspire us all. We can all learn something from these historic figures". Hawaiʻi Magazine. Honolulu. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
12. Capace, Nancy (January 1, 2001). Encyclopedia of New Mexico. Somerset Publishers, Inc. ISBN   9780403096077.
13. "First as lawyer, then as judge, Molokai woman was a pioneer". archives.starbulletin.com. May 7, 2010. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
14. "A Groundbreaking Woman | The Molokai Dispatch". themolokaidispatch.com. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
15. "Hawaii's first female judge of Family Court 'personified grace and wisdom'". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. August 30, 2017. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
16. "Hawaii's first female judge of Family Court 'personified grace and wisdom'". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. August 30, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
17. Barayuga, Debra. "Judge garners praise as she retires from bench". archives.starbulletin.com. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
18. Finkelman, Paul (2009). Encyclopedia of African American History: 5-Volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN   978-0-19-516779-5.
19. "The Honorable Sandra A. Simms's Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
20. Upon Simms' appointment as a Judge of the District Court of the First Circuit in 1991
21. "Judge Holt Decides on Hawaiian Sovereignty License Plates, 1993" . Retrieved January 3, 2023.
22. "Judge Holt Honored as Maui High inducts 6 with school ties to hall of honor". July 4, 2016.
23. "Fil-Am Voice of Maui, Vol1 No7 Maui High Honorees" (PDF). September 1, 2017.
24. "Interview with Judge Holt, friendship with Patsy Mink, ASIAN-PACIFIC LAW & POLICY JOURNAL; Page 576, 577, 596, Vol. 4, Issue 2 (Summer2003)" (PDF). February 8, 1991.
25. "Lesbian appointed to Supreme Court in Hawaii as civil unions bill clears Senate committee - Dallas Voice". Dallas Voice. January 26, 2011. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
26. Dennis, Yvonne Wakim; Hirschfelder, Arlene; Molin, Paulette F. (October 25, 2022). Indigenous Firsts: A History of Native American Achievements and Events. Visible Ink Press. ISBN   978-1-57859-806-9.
27. Judiciary, United States Congress Senate Committee on the (1996). Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session on Confirmations of Appointees to the Federal Judiciary. U.S. Government Printing Office.
28. Hong, Laura Kingsley (November 1999). Advocacy for Justice. American Bar Association. p. 72.
29. "First Hawaiian Woman Confirmed to Federal Bench by US Senate". Native News Online. November 30, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
30. "Judiciary | Associate Judge Corinne K.A. Watanabe". www.courts.state.hi.us. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
31. "Margery Bronster, A.G." archives.starbulletin.com. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
32. "A $100,000 Lawyer | The Molokai Dispatch". The Molokai Dispatch. July 30, 2008. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
33. "Hawaii's first female US Attorney sworn in". Hawaii News Now. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
34. "About Mazie | Mazie K. Hirono - A Voice for Hawai'i in the U.S. Senate". www.hirono.senate.gov. Archived from the original on January 23, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
35. "Class Notes: Sherry Broder" (PDF). Transcript. Spring 2015.
36. Matsuda, Mari J. (1992). Called from Within: Early Women Lawyers of Hawai?i. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN   9780824814489.
37. "First Woman Appointed To Serve As City Attorney Here". Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com. February 15, 1944. p. 1. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
38. Omaye, Jayna (September 13, 2021). "New University of Hawaii law school initiative touts diversity, inclusion". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
39. Love, Barbara J. (September 22, 2006). Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 . University of Illinois Press. p.  38. ISBN   978-0-252-09747-8.