Firsts in state history
Law School
- Ada Kepley (1881): [1] First female law graduate in Illinois (1870)
Lawyers
- Myra Bradwell (1890 (1869*)): [2] She aimed to be the first woman admitted to the Illinois State Bar. Denied admission in 1870 because she was a woman, she was admitted nunc pro tunc in 1890, backdated to her 1869 application, in honor of her efforts. [3]
- Alta M. Hulett (1873): [4] First female lawyer in Illinois admitted to the bar. (After the Bradwell case, the state legislature changed the law to allow women to become lawyers)
- Ellen A. Martin (1875): [5] First female (a lawyer) to successfully vote in Illinois after finding a loophole in the Lombard town charter in 1891, which was upheld in court.
- Mary A. Ahrens (1889): [6] Sole female in the inaugural group of 33 lawyers sworn to the bar of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1891.
- Ida Platt (1894): [7] First African-American female lawyer in Illinois
- Helen M. Cirese (1921): [8] First Italian American female admitted to the Illinois State Bar
- Elizabeth K. Ohi (1937): [9] First Japanese American female lawyer in Illinois
- Renee C. Hanover (1969): [10] First openly lesbian lawyer in Illinois
- Lola Miranda Hale (1969), Virginia Martinez (1975) and Viola Armijo Rouse (1975): [11] [12] [13] First Latino American female lawyers in Illinois
State judges
- Catherine Waugh McCulloch (1886): [14] [15] [16] First female elected as the Justice of the Peace in Illinois (1907)
- Mary Bartelme: [17] [18] First elected female judge (1923) and appointed assistant judge (1913) in Illinois
- Edith S. Sampson (1927): [19] First African American female judge in Illinois (1962)
- Jane D. Waller (1973): [20] [21] [22] First female to serve on the Nineteenth Circuit in Illinois (1981)
- Rita B. Garman (1968): [23] First female to serve as the Presiding Judge for the Fifth Circuit (1987) and the Fourth District Appellate Court (1995) in Illinois
- Consuelo Bedoya-Witt (1977): [20] First Hispanic American female judge in Illinois (1988)
- Rosemary Collins: [24] First female to serve on the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court in Illinois (1989)
- Lynne Kawamoto (1981): [25] [26] [27] First Asian American female (who is Japanese American) judge in Illinois (1991)
- Mary Ann McMorrow (1953): [28] First female to serve on the Supreme Court of Illinois (1992) and its Chief Justice (2002)
- Nancy J. Katz: [29] First openly LGBT female judge in Illinois (upon her appointment to the Cook County Circuit Court in 1999)
- Rena M. Van Tine (1986): [30] First Indian American female judge in Illinois (2001)
- Pamela Leeming: [31] [32] First known Pakistani American (female) judge in Illinois (2009)
- Laura Liu (1991): [33] [34] [35] First Asian American female judge in Illinois (2010) and serve on the Illinois Appellate Court (2014)
- Jessica Arong O’Brien: [36] [37] First Filipino American (female) elected as a judge in Illinois (2012)
- Vershenia Ballance Moody (1995): [38] First (African American) female to serve on the 6B Judicial District in Illinois (2013)
- Lisa Holder White (1993): [39] [40] First African American female to serve on the Fourth District Appellate Court (2013) and the Supreme Court of Illinois (2022)
- Brenda Claudio: [41] First Latino American female to serve as a Judge of the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit in Illinois (2021)
- Tionn Fambro Carter: [42] First African American female to serve as an Associate Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit in Illinois (2024)
Federal judges
- Ann Claire Williams (1975): [43] First African American female to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1985) and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1999)
- Nancy J. Rosenstengel: [44] First female to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (2013)
- Staci Michelle Yandle (1987): [45] First openly LGBT and African American female to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (2014)
- Martha M. Pacold: [46] First Asian American female to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2019)
- Rebecca R. Pallmeyer (1979): [47] [48] First female to serve as the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2019)
- Nancy L. Maldonado: [49] First Hispanic American female to serve as a federal district court judge in Illinois (upon her appointment to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2022)
Attorney General
- Lisa Madigan: [50] First female Attorney General of Illinois (2003)
Deputy Attorney General
- Jill Wine-Banks: [51] [52] First female to serve as the Deputy Attorney General for Illinois
Assistant Attorney General
Solicitor General
- Jill Wine-Banks: [51] [52] First female to serve as the Solicitor General for Illinois
United States Attorney
- Miriam Miquelon: [55] First female to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois (c. 2003)
Public Defender
- Pearl M. Hart (1914): [56] [57] [58] First female (and LGBT) to serve as a public defender for the Moral Court of Chicago, Illinois (1933)
Bar Association
- Carole Bellows: [59] First female to serve as the President of the Illinois State Bar Association (1977)
- Sonni Choi Williams: [60] [61] First female of color (she is of Korean descent) to serve as Vice President (2022) and President (2024) of the Illinois State Bar Association
