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 graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history

Anna Christy Fall: First female lawyer to argue a case before a jury in Massachusetts

Margaret H. Marshall: First female Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1999)

Law School

• First African American female law graduate: Blanche E. Braxton in 1923 ^{[1] [2]}

Lawyers

• First female: Lelia J. Robinson (1882) ^[3]
• First female (to argue case in jury trial): Anna Christy Fall (1891) ^[4]
• First female (to appear before the full bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court): Margaret M. McChesney (1921) in 1926 ^{[5] [6]}
• First African American female: Blanche E. Braxton (1923): ^{[1] [2]} lawyer in Massachusetts. She is also the first African American female lawyer to practice in the United States District Court in Massachusetts in 1933.
• First Armenian American female: Norma M. Karaian ^[7]
• First African American female (to follow her father to the bar and practice law with him): Jacqueline R. Guild Lloyd (1933) ^[1]
• First African American female (practice before the United States District Court of Massachusetts): Blanche E. Braxton (1923) in 1933 ^{[1] [2]}
• First openly LGBT (female): Katherine Triantafillou (1975) ^{[8] [9]}

State judges

• First females: Emma Fall Schofield (1908) and Sadie Lipner Shulman (1911) in 1930 ^[4]
• First female (full judgeship and a presiding judge): Ethel E. Mackiernan (c. 1918) during the 1930s ^{[10] [11] [5]}
• First female (Associate Justice of the Boston Municipal Court): Jennie Loitman Barron (c. 1914) in 1937 ^[12]
• First female (Associate Judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court): Jennie Loitman Barron (c. 1914) around 1959 ^[12]
• First female (probate court): Sheila E. McGovern in 1974 ^{[13] [14]}
• First African American female: Margaret Burnham in 1977 ^{[15] [16]}
• First female (Massachusetts Appeals Court): Charlotte Anne Perretta in 1978 ^[17]
• First female to serve on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Ruth Abrams in 1978 ^[18]
• First African American female (Massachusetts District Court): Marie O. Jackson-Thompson in 1980 ^[19]
• First female [First Justice of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court (Middlesex)]: Sheila E. McGovern in 1980 ^{[13] [14]}
• First Latino American females: Angela M. Ordoñez ^[20] and María López (1978) in 1987-1988. ^{[4] [21]} Ordoñez was also the first openly lesbian judge in Massachusetts.
• First openly LGBT females: Angela M. Ordoñez ^[20] and Linda Giles in 1987-1991 ^[22]
• First person of color (Massachusetts Probate and Family Court): Judith Nelson Dilday (1974) in 1993 ^[4]
• First female (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court): Margaret H. Marshall in 1999 ^[23]
• First Indian American female: Sabita Singh (1990) ^[24]
• First openly LGBT female (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court): Barbara Lenk (1979) in 2011 ^[25]
• First Asian American (female) (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court): Fernande R. V. Duffly in 2011 ^[26]
• First African American female (Massachusetts Appeals Court): Geraldine Hines in 2013 ^[27]
• First Hispanic American (female) to serve as a chief justice: Angela M. Ordoñez in 2013
• First Korean American female: Eleanor Coe Sinnott in 2006 ^[28]
• First Latino American female (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court): Dalila Argaez Wendlandt in 2020 ^[29]

Federal judges

• First female (United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Massachusetts and its First Circuit): Carol. J. Kenner in 1986 ^[30]
• First Asian Pacific American female (U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts): Indira Talwani (1988) in 2014 ^[31]
• First African American female (U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts): Denise J. Casper (1994) ^[32]
• First Hispanic American (female) (U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts): Margaret Guzman in 2023 ^[33]

Attorney General of Massachusetts

• First female: Martha Coakley (c. 1979) from 2007-2015 ^[34]
• First openly LGBT female: Maura Healey (1998) in 2015 ^[35]
• First African American female: Andrea Campbell in 2022 ^[36]

Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts

• First female: Emma Fall Schofield (1908) ^{[37] [38] [4]}
• First African American female: Glendora Putnam (1948) in 1964 ^{[39] [40]}

U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts

• First (Hispanic American) female: Carmen Ortiz (1981) in 2009 ^[41]
• First African American female: Rachael Rollins in 2022 ^{[42] [43]}

District Attorney

• First female: Elizabeth "Betsy" Scheibel in 1993 ^[44]
• First African American female: Rachael Rollins in 2018 ^[42]

Political Office

• First openly lesbian female (Governor-elect of Massachusetts): Maura Healey (1998) in 2022 ^[45]

Massachusetts Bar Association

• First female (president): Alice E. Richmond from 1986-1987 ^[46]

Firsts in local history

• Elizabeth "Betsy" Scheibel: ^[44] First female to serve as the District Attorney for the Northwestern District in Massachusetts (1993) [ Franklin and Hampshire Counties, Massachusetts]
• Harriet L. Kilbourne (1897): ^[47] First female admitted to the Berkshire County Bar Association [ Berkshire County, Massachusetts]
• Andrea Harrington: ^[48] First female District Attorney for Berkshire County, Massachusetts (2018)
• Mary E. Hyde: ^[49] First female lawyer in Fall River, Massachusetts [ Bristol County, Massachusetts]
• Elvah H. Young (1899): ^[50] First female lawyer in Hampden County, Massachusetts

• Martha Coakley (c. 1979): ^[34] First female District Attorney for Middlesex County, Massachusetts
• Ruth Abrams: ^[18] First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County, Massachusetts
• Margaret Montoya: ^[51] First Latino American female to graduate from Harvard Law School (1972) [Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
• Linda Sheryl Greene: ^[52] First African American female to teach at Harvard Law School (1981)
• Haben Girma (2013): ^[53] First deafblind graduate (who is also female and of Eritrean-Ethiopian descent) of Harvard Law School [Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
• Priscila Coronado: ^[54] First Latino American female to serve as the President of the Harvard Law Review (2021)
• Arlene Hassett: ^[55] First female judge in Lowell, Massachusetts (1972) [ Middlesex County, Massachusetts]

• Anna E. Hirsch: ^[56] First female (a lawyer) elected as the Registrar of Probate in Norfolk County, Massachusetts (1954)

• Katherine Triantafillou (1975): ^{[8] [9]} First openly LGBT (female) lawyer in Massachusetts
• Gene D. Dahmen: ^[57] First female President of the Boston Bar Association (1987-1988) [ Suffolk County, Massachusetts]
• Camille A. Nelson: ^[58] First (African American) female to serve as the Dean of Suffolk University Law School (2010)
• Rachael Rollins: ^[42] First female (and African American female) to become a District Attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts (2018)
• Michelle Wu: ^[59] First (Asian American) female (a lawyer) to serve as the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts (2021)

• Stephanie Grant (1908): ^[60] First female admitted to the Worcester Bar Association
• Addie Gillette (1897): ^[60] First female lawyer to actually practice in Worcester County, Massachusetts

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 Massachusetts

References

1. Smith, J. Clay Jr. (1999). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844–1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   0812216857.
2. "New England Law awards honorary degree to Bobbi Gibb '77, first woman to run the Boston Marathon". www.nesl.edu. May 20, 2016. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
3. "Robinson, Lelia Josephine | School of Law". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
4. "A History of Diversity at BU Law | School of Law". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
5. "Law School History, Experiences & Records – New England Law | Boston". student.nesl.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
6. Smith, Bonnie Hurd; Law, New England School of; Trail (Organization), Boston Women's Heritage (2008-01-01). Boston women & the law: a walking trail through four centuries of Boston women's legal history. New England Law - Boston. ISBN   9780979121432.
7. "Norma M. Karaian". Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. February 7, 2005. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
8. "A career spent fighting for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals". Boston University. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
9. Triantafillou, Katherine (Spring 2013). "SAME-SEX CONFLICTS: A PRIMER FOR MEDIATORS" (PDF). Family Mediation Quarterly. 12.
10. "Women's Legal History | Biographical Search". Women's Legal History. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
11. Thomas (pseud.), Dorothy (1957). Women Lawyers in the United States. Scarecrow Press.
12. "Jennie Loitman Barron". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
13. "Judge Sheila McGovern, Class of 1960". Boston College Law School. November 20, 2002.
14. McGovern was appointed at age 37 and is recognized for her contributions for extending rights to children who are in school when their parents divorce. She also granted the first same sex adoption in the state of Massachusetts.(Tammy case)
15. Holloran, Peter C. (2017-05-01). Historical Dictionary of New England. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781538102190.
16. "Law professor Margaret Burnham named Carnegie Fellow" . Retrieved 2018-02-01.
17. Marquard, Bryan (13 April 2015). "Charlotte Anne Perretta, 72, first woman to serve on state Appeals Court". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
18. "Ruth Abrams | Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
19. "Judge Marie Oliver Jackson". Trellis. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
20. Oliver, Tricia M. (February 2010). "Judge Angela M. Ordoñez: From Modest Beginnings To The Massachusetts Judiciary". www.massbar.org. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
21. Ruiz, Vicki L.; Korrol, Virginia Sánchez (2006-05-03). Latinas in the United States, set: A Historical Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. ISBN   0253111692.
22. "January 2021 Spotlight: Justice Linda Giles (MA)". LGBTQ+ Judges. 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
23. Marshall, Margaret H. (21 July 2010). "Statement of Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall" (PDF) (Press release). Retrieved 17 October 2013.
24. "Council confirms Singh, Donatelle for judgeships". Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. 2017-06-22. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
25. 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.
26. Bierman, Noah (2010-12-22). "Patrick looks for another SJC first". Boston.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
27. Thornton '82, Denise; MA'08. "Geraldine Hines JD'71: Defending Justice | On Wisconsin" . Retrieved 2019-01-12.
28. "Massachusetts' 1st Korean judge balances identity, education and social intelligence – The Korea Times". www.koreatimesus.com. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
29. "Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker to nominate Judge Dalila Argaez Wendlandt to SJC, who would be first Latina on the high court". masslive. 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
30. "WOMEN'S BAR ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2015 LELIA J. ROBINSON AWARD RECIPIENTS" (PDF). Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts. July 13, 2015.
31. "Indian-American Indira Talwani confirmed as federal judge in Massachusetts". The Economic Times. 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
32. "Federal judge breaks new ground as first black woman to sit on bench in Massachusetts". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
33. Fulton, Jacob (2023). "Senate confirms Margaret Guzman as first Hispanic judge appointed to the US District Court for Mass. - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
34. "Martha Coakley, 1st woman elected attorney general and Middlesex district attorney, hopes to become Mass.' 1st female U.S. senator". masslive.com. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
35. "Maura Healey will be the nation's first openly gay AG". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
36. "Andrea Campbell will be Massachusetts' first Black woman Attorney General". News. 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
37. "News Items" (PDF). Women Lawyers' Journal. 2:4. February 1913.
38. Drachman, Virginia G. (2001). Sisters in Law: Women Lawyers in Modern American History. Harvard University Press. ISBN   9780674006942.
39. Marquard, Bryan (29 June 2016). "Glendora Putnam, 92, civil rights pioneer in legal, government fields". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
40. Hayden, Robert C. (1992-01-01). African Americans in Boston: More Than Three Hundred Fifty Years. Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston. ISBN   9780890730836.
41. "U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz Announces Departure". www.justice.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
42. "Boston, nearby communities elect first woman of color to be district attorney". MSN. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
43. "Meet the U.S. Attorney". www.justice.gov. 2022-01-10. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
44. "DA for the Downtrodden: Betsy Scheibel Ends Three Decades as a Victims' Advocate – Alumnae Association" . Retrieved 2018-12-24.
45. Treisman, Rachel (2022-11-09). "Meet some of Tuesday's history-making election winners". NPR. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
46. Driscoll, Dawn-Marie (1990). Women and Economic Empowerment. Univ of Massachusetts Press. ISBN   9780870236440.
47. "Women Attorneys-At-Law". wlh-static.law.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
48. "Historic wins in two Massachusetts primary races". WNYT NewsChannel 13. 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
49. Allard, Deborah. "Four Fall River women who were ahead of their time". The Herald News, Fall River, MA. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
50. Smith, Frank Charles; Proctor, Lucien Brock; Chapin, Heman Gerald; Harvey, Richard Selden (1899). The American Lawyer. Stumpf & Steurer.
51. "Documentary featuring Margaret Montoya highlights first Latina admitted to Harvard Law School". UNM Newsroom. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
52. "Linda Sheryl Greene: Faculty Profile: Michigan State University College of Law". www.law.msu.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
53. "Haben Girma". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
54. "A Mexican American is the first Latina president of Harvard Law Review". NBC News. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
55. "Makes History". Newspapers.com. April 12, 1972. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
56. "Women's History Month for Lawyers: 5 Little-Known Women Lawyer Pioneers". www.nesl.edu. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
57. ABA Journal. American Bar Association. December 1994.
58. "Camille A. Nelson | William S. Richardson School of Law". www.law.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
59. "Wu, Pureval mayoral wins mark milestone for Asian Americans". AP NEWS. 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
60. "Edna Ione Smith Tyler, business woman, Worcester, MA (1861–1930) | Window On Your Past". windowonyourpast.com. Retrieved 2017-10-16.