List of first women lawyers and judges in New Mexico

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in New Mexico. 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 New Mexico's history

Susana Martinez: First Hispanic American female Governor of New Mexico (2011)

Lawyers

• First female admitted: Henrietta Hume Pettijohn Buck (1892) ^{[1] [2]}
• First female (actively practice): Nellie C. Brewer Pierce (1908) ^[2]
• First Hispanic American female: Betty Ann Camunez (1972) ^[2]
• First Pueblo female: Carol Jean Vigil (c. 1977) ^[3]
• First undocumented female: Jazmín Irazoqui-Ruiz in 2017 ^[4]

State judges

• First female: Olga Melinda Victoria Miller in 1910 ^{[5] [6]}
• First female (district court): Mary Coon Walters (1962) in 1972 ^{[7] [8]}
• First Mexican American female (Second Judicial District): Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1978 ^{[2] [9]}
• First female (New Mexico Supreme Court): Mary Coon Walters (1962) in 1984 ^{[7] [8]}
• First female (New Mexico Court of Appeals): Christina Armijo (1975) from 1996-2011 ^[10]
• First Native American (Pueblo) (female): Carol Jean Vigil (c. 1977) in 1998 ^{[3] [11] [12]}
• First African American female (district court): Angela Jewell in 1999 ^{[11] [13]}
• First female (Chief Justice; New Mexico Supreme Court): Pamela B. Minzner (1972) in 1999 ^[14]
• First Hispanic American female (Chief Justice; New Mexico Supreme Court): Petra F. Jimenez Maes (1973) in 2003 ^[15]
• First openly lesbian female (New Mexico Court of Appeals): Linda Vanzi in 2010 ^[16]
• First female (Seventh Judicial District): Mercedes C. Murphy in 2014 ^[17]
• First female (Sixth Judicial District): Jennifer Delaney ^[18]
• First African American (female) (New Mexico Court of Appeals): Shammara Henderson in 2020 ^[19]

Federal judges

• First female (Navajo Nation Judicial Branch): Marie Roanhorse Neswood from 1976–1989 ^[20]
• First (Latino American) female (U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico): Martha Vázquez (1978) in 1993 ^[21]

Attorney General of New Mexico

• First Mexican American female: Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1999 ^{[2] [9] [22]}

United States Attorney

• First female (Acting): Ruth Cooper Streeter in 1969 ^{[23] [24]}

District Attorney

• First female: Margaret Weldon Lamb (1969) from 1978-1980 ^[2]

Political Office

• First Hispanic American female (Governor of New Mexico): Susana Martinez (1986) in 2011 ^[25]
• First Hispanic American female (elected from the Democratic Party as the Governor of New Mexico): Michelle Lujan Grisham (1987) in 2018 ^[26]

State Bar of New Mexico

• First African American female admitted: Barbara Brown Simmons (c. 1974) ^{[27] [28]}
• First female president: Amanda L. Ashford in 1990 ^[29]
• First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002 ^[30]

Firsts in local history

• Barbara Brown Simmons (c. 1974): ^{[27] [28]} First African American female graduate from the University of New Mexico School of Law [ Bernalillo County, New Mexico]
• Kari Brandenburg: ^[31] First female District Attorney for Bernalillo County, New Mexico (2000)
• Kea Riggs: ^[32] First female district court judge in Chaves County, New Mexico
• Esther Smith Van Soelen: ^[33] First female lawyer in Clovis, New Mexico [ Curry County, New Mexico]
• Olga Melinda Victoria Miller: ^{[5] [6]} First female judge in Doña Ana County, New Mexico (1910)
• Nancy Beard: ^[34] First female Magistrate Judge in Eddy County, New Mexico
• Edith Gutierrez: ^[35] First female (non-attorney) judge in Silver City, New Mexico [Grant County, New Mexico ]
• Bettye Dean: ^[36] First female magistrate in Lincoln County, New Mexico (1983)
• Angela "Spence" Pacheco: ^[37] First female to serve as the judicial district attorney in Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, and Santa Fe Counties, New Mexico (2008)
• Irene Saiz Mirabal-Counts: ^[38] First female to serve as a Magistrate Judge in Otero County, New Mexico (2016)

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 New Mexico

References

1. Weatherford, Doris (2012-01-20). Women in American Politics: History and Milestones. SAGE. ISBN   9781608710072.
2. "A Celebration of New Mexico's First Women Lawyers" (PDF). Presented by the New Mexico Women's Bar Association in Cooperation with the State Bar of New Mexico. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
3. Reports, Times Wire (2009-03-31). "Passings". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2018-01-20.
4. "New Mexico allows immigrants here illegally to obtain law licenses". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
5. "New Mexico's First Woman Judge" (PDF). Bar Bulletin. April 10, 2006.
6. "The First Woman Judge in New Mexico". Carrizozo News. 1910-11-11. ISSN   2166-7756 . Retrieved 2019-02-27.
7. A celebration of New Mexico's first women lawyers: presented by the New Mexico Women's Bar Association with the State Bar of New Mexico. New Mexico Women's Bar Association. 2002.
8. Singleton, Sarah M.; Profession, New Mexico State Bar Task Force on Women and the Legal; Mexico, State Bar of New (1991). Final report of the New Mexico State Bar Task Force on Women and the Legal Profession. State Bar of New Mexico.
9. Bullis, Don (2011-07-01). New Mexico Historical Biographies. BookBaby. ISBN   9781936744909.
10. National News. American Legion Auxiliary. 1995.
11. "TO THE BOARD OF BAR COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE BAR OF NEW MEXICO REPORT THE STATUS OF MINORITY ATTORNEYS IN NEW MEXICO – AN UPDATE: 1990-1999". THE STATE BAR OF NEW MEXICO TASK FORCE ON MINORITIES IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION II.
12. Terrell, Steve (November 5, 2005). "Governor appoints long-time S.F. lawyer to replace retiring judge Vigil". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
13. Upon Jewell’s appointment as a Judge of the Second Judicial District Court in New Mexico in 1999
14. "Supreme Court Justice Minzner dead at 63". NMPolitics.net. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
15. "Justice Petra Jimenez Maes". nmcourts.sks.com. 2016-04-01. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
16. "Lesbian Judge Wins Statewide Race in New Mexico". www.advocate.com. 2010-06-02. Retrieved 2022-06-09.
17. "District Court Judges". seventhdistrictcourt.nmcourts.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
18. "Deming Pi Chapter honors 5 as 'Women We Admire'". The Deming Headlight. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
19. Leggett, Shellye (2020-02-18). "First African American appointed to New Mexico Court of Appeals". KOAT. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
20. (TNS), Noel Lyn Smith | The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M. "First woman judge for Navajo courts remembered". www.abqjournal.com. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
21. "Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 28, 1993 · Page 1". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
22. García, Sonia R.; Martinez-Ebers, Valerie; Coronado, Irasema; Navarro, Sharon A.; Jaramillo, Patricia A. (2009-06-03). Políticas: Latina Public Officials in Texas. University of Texas Press. ISBN   9780292779983.
23. "Obituary: Ruth Cooper Streeter". obits.abqjournal.com. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
24. Several sources consider Ruth Cooper Street the first female prosecutor in New Mexico.
25. Newton-Small, Jay. "Meet the First Hispanic Republican Female Governor". TIME.com. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
26. Nam, Rafael (2018-11-06). "Michelle Lujan Grisham to become New Mexico's first Democratic Latina governor". TheHill. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
27. "UNM project keeps history alive". UNM Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
28. "Barbara Brown Simmons". AND YET SHE PERSISTED: DOCUMENTING WOMEN'S LIVES IN NEW MEXICO.
29. "Birthday Celebration". www.nmbar.org. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
30. Garcia, Elizabeth (August 2013). "Mary Torres: First Hispanic Secretary of the ABA" (PDF). New Mexico Lawyer.
31. CONTRERAS, RUSSELL (2015-01-13). "Murder charges against police put New Mexico DA in spotlight". KDBC. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
32. Ross, Alex. "Local judge appears before Senate Judiciary Committee | Roswell Daily Record" . Retrieved 2019-07-14.
33. "City's first female lawyer to be honored". The Eastern New Mexico News. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
34. "Focus on Carlsbad Fall 2014". Issuu. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
35. "Desert Exposure May 2010 Judge Edith Gutierrez". www.desertexposure.com. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
36. "Dean sworn in as magistrate". Newspapers.com. November 10, 1983.
37. Pacheco, Ana (2013-02-25). Legendary Locals of Santa Fe. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4396-4207-8.
38. "Mirabal-Counts sworn in as Magistrate Court judge". Alamogordo Daily News. Retrieved 2019-07-09.