Firsts in state history
Law School
- Maureen Onyelobi: [1] First (African American) female to take a law school test while incarcerated in Minnesota (2021)
Lawyers
- Martha Angle Dorsett (1878): [2] First female lawyer in Minnesota. Admitted to the Hennepin County bar.
- Mary L. McGindley (1891): [3] First woman admitted to the Minnesota bar.
- 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.
- Lenor Scheffler (1988): [11] First Mdewakanton (female) lawyer in Minnesota
- Kao Ly Ilean Her and Pacyinz Lyfoung (1994): [12] First Hmong American female lawyers in Minnesota [13]
- Lola Velazquez-Aguilu: [14] First Latino American female to serve as the Chair of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection
- Amran Farah (2013): [15] [16] Reputed to be the first Somali American (female) to make partner at a major Minnesota law firm (2020)
State judges
- Eleanor Nolan: [17] First female to briefly serve as a municipal court judge in Minnesota (1940)
- Betty Whitlock Washburn: [18] First female judge in Minnesota (1950) [19]
- Ruth Brown, LeSueur County Court [19]
- Gail Murray, St. Louis County Court [19]
- Susanne C. Sedgwick: [20] 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: [21] 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: [22] [23] First African American female judge in Minnesota (1983)
- Isabel Gomez: [24] First Hispanic American female judge in Minnesota (1984)
- Joanne M. Smith was the first woman elected chief judge of a district court in Minnesota (1989). Governor Perpich appointed Joanne Smith as a second judicial district judge on November 10, 1983.
- Linda S. Titus (1978): [25] First female to serve on the Fifth Judicial District in Minnesota (1990)
- Leslie Metzen (1979): [26] [27] [28] First female to serve on the First Judicial District in Minnesota
- Natalie Hudson: [29] [30] First African American female to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2002)
- Regina Chu: [29] First Asian American female judge in Minnesota (2002)
- Susan N. Burke: [31] First Japanese American (female) judge in Minnesota (2004)
- Wilhelmina Wright (1998): [32] First African American female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2012)
- Margaret Chutich (1984): [33] First openly LGBT female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2016)
- Anne McKeig (1992): [34] [35] First Native American (Ojibwe) [female] to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2016)
- Sophia Vuelo (1999): [36] First Hmong American female judge in Minnesota (2017)
- Sarah Wheelock: [37] [38] First Native American (Meskwaki Nation female) to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2021)
- Natalie Hudson: [29] [30] First African American (female) to serve as the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (2023)
- Viet-Hanh Winchell: [39] First Vietnamese American (female) judge in Minnesota (2024)
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: [40] First female to serve on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota (1984)
- Diana E. Murphy: [41] First female federal judge in Minnesota (1994) [42]
Attorney General
- Lori Swanson: [43] First female Attorney General of Minnesota (2007)
Assistant Attorney General
- Nilushi Ranaweera: [44] First Sri Lankan American female to serve as an Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota (2019)
Deputy Attorney General
- Luz María Frías: [14] First Latino American female to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of Minnesota
Solicitor General
United States Attorney
- Rachel Paulose (1997): [47] 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: [51] First female to serve as an Assistant County Attorney in Minnesota
Bar Association
- Helen Kelly: [29] [52] [53] First female to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (1987-1988)
- Sonia Miller-Van Oort: [54] First Hispanic American female (and Hispanic American in general) to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (2017)
- Luz Maria Frias: [55] First female to serve as the President of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association
- Adine Momoh: [56] [57] First minority female to serve as the President of the Hennepin County Bar Association, Minnesota (2018)
