The number of women in the United States judiciary has increased as more women have entered law school, but women still face significant barriers in pursuing legal careers.
Sidney Runyan Thomas is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior U.S. circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1996. He served as the Ninth Circuit's chief judge from 2014 to 2021. His chambers are located in Billings, Montana.
Karla Marie Gray was an American attorney and judge who served as the chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court; she was the first woman to serve as Chief Justice and to be elected to the Montana Supreme Court.
Stephen Clark Bullock is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 24th governor of Montana from 2013 to 2021. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Montana took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate from Montana, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Beth Baker is an American lawyer who has served an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court. Elected on November 2, 2010 and sworn into office on January 3, 2011, she became the fourth woman to serve on Montana's highest bench. She took the seat of the retired Justice W. William Leaphart. Originally from Spokane, Washington, she graduated magna cum laude in 1982 from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in Speech Communication. Baker received her law degree, with high honors, from the University of Montana School of Law in 1985.
Susan Pamela Watters is an American attorney serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Montana. She is the first female judge to serve in the District of Montana.
Laurie McKinnon is an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court. She was elected to her first eight-year term in 2012.
Diane MacDonald Barz was an American judge. In 1978, she became the first female Montana District Court judge. She was also the first woman to serve as a member of the Montana Supreme Court, a position she held from September 1989 to 1991. She also served as an assistant United States attorney from 1991 to 1994.
William Edward Hunt, Sr. was an American soldier, lawyer, and jurist. He served as the County Attorney for Liberty County, Montana, and later as the mayor of Chester, Montana. During his tenure as mayor, he founded the Montana Consumers Council. From 1970 to 1975, he served as the Director of the Montana Aeronautics Commission. He was appointed the first Montana Workers' Compensation Court judge in July 1975, organizing the court and serving until August 1981. He won a nonpartisan election as an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court in 1984, and served from January 2, 1985, until his retirement on December 31, 2000.
Ingrid G. Gustafson is an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court. She was appointed in December 2017 by Governor Steve Bullock to fill the seat of retiring Justice Mike Wheat. She grew up primarily in Billings, Montana, where she returned to work in private practice and then became a District Judge for Montana's 13th Judicial District, Yellowstone County prior to her appointment to the state Supreme Court.
Kimberly Dudik is an American politician and attorney who served as a member of the Montana House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. Dudik was a candidate for attorney general of Montana in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Laura Lykins was Oklahoma's first female lawyer. She was born on the Shawnee Indian Reservation in Kansas. Her mother was Caucasian whereas her father was the brother of the Shawnee chief Blue Jacket. Lykins graduated from the law department of the Carlisle Indian School in 1898 before relocating to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Later that same year, Lykins became the first female admitted to the Oklahoma State Bar.
Mary Frances Garrigus (1891-1918) was Montana's first Native American female lawyer.
