Firsts in state history
Law School
Lawyers
- Martha Angle Dorsett (1878): [3] First female lawyer in Minnesota
- Lena O. Smith (1921): [4] First African American female lawyer in Minnesota
- Margaret Treuer (1977): [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] First Native American (Ojibwe) (female) lawyer in Minnesota. She would later become a tribal judge.
- Kao Ly Ilean Her and Pacyinz Lyfoung (1994): [11] First Hmong American female lawyers in Minnesota [12]
- Lola Velazquez-Aguilu: [13] First Latino American female to serve as the Chair of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection
- Amran Farah (2013): [14] [15] Reputed to be the first Somali American (female) to make partner at a major Minnesota law firm (2020)
State judges
- Eleanor Nolan: [16] First female to briefly serve as a municipal court judge in Minnesota (1940)
- Betty Whitlock Washburn: [17] First female judge in Minnesota (1950) [18]
- Ruth Brown, LeSueur County Court [18]
- Gail Murray, St. Louis County Court [18]
- Susanne C. Sedgwick: [19] First female to serve on a Minnesota trial court, Hennepin County District Court (1974) second woman to serve as a municipal judge (1970) defeating an incumbent, and one of the first women to serve on the newly-created Minnesota Court of Appeals (1983)
- Rosalie E. Wahl: [20] First female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (1977)
- Harriet Lansing, Ramsey County Municipal Court (1978), one of first two women on the newly-created Minnesota Court of Appeals (1983)
- Pamela Alexander: [21] [22] First African American female judge in Minnesota (1983)
- Isabel Gomez: [23] First Hispanic American female judge in Minnesota (1984)
- Linda S. Titus (1978): [24] First female to serve on the Fifth Judicial District in Minnesota (1990)
- Leslie Metzen (1979): [25] [26] [27] First female to serve on the First Judicial District in Minnesota
- Natalie Hudson: [28] [29] First African American female to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2002)
- Regina Chu: [28] First Asian American female judge in Minnesota (2002)
- Susan N. Burke: [30] First Japanese American (female) judge in Minnesota (2004)
- Wilhelmina Wright (1998): [31] First African American female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2012)
- Margaret Chutich (1984): [32] First openly LGBT female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2016)
- Anne McKeig (1992): [33] [34] First Native American (Ojibwe) [female] to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2016)
- Sophia Vuelo (1999): [35] First Hmong American female judge in Minnesota (2017)
- Sarah Wheelock: [36] [37] First Native American (Meskwaki Nation female) to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2021)
- Natalie Hudson: [28] [29] First African American (female) to serve as the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (2023)
Federal judges
- Margaret Treuer (1977): [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] First Native American (Ojibwe) female to serve as a U.S. Magistrate for the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (1983)
- Margaret A. Mahoney: [38] First female to serve on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota (1984)
- Diana E. Murphy: [39] First female federal judge in Minnesota (1994) [40]
Attorney General
- Lori Swanson: [41] First female Attorney General of Minnesota (2007)
Assistant Attorney General
- Nilushi Ranaweera: [42] First Sri Lankan American female to serve as an Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota (2019)
Deputy Attorney General
- Luz María Frías: [13] First Latino American female to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of Minnesota
Solicitor General
United States Attorney
- Rachel Paulose (1997): [45] First Indian American female to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota (2006)
County Attorney
Assistant County Attorney
- Phyllis Jean Jones: [49] First female to serve as an Assistant County Attorney in Minnesota
Bar Association
- Helen Kelly: [28] [50] [51] First female to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (1987-1988)
- Sonia Miller-Van Oort: [52] First Hispanic American female (and Hispanic American in general) to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (2017)
- Luz Maria Frias: [53] First female to serve as the President of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association
