This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in North America (a separate list is devoted to the United States). It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the first women in their country to achieve a certain distinction such as graduating from law school.
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Panama face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Panama, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal benefits and protections available to opposite-sex married couples.
Dame Sandra Prunella Mason is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who is serving as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2021, the second woman to hold the office. On 20 October 2021, Mason was elected by the Parliament of Barbados to become the country's first president, and took office on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic.
Zarela Villanueva Monge is a Costa Rican magistrate who served as President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica from 13 May 2013 to 13 May 2017.
Désirée Patricia Bernard is a Guyanese lawyer and jurist who was the country's first female judge of the High Court in 1980 and Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court in 1992. She was appointed Chief Justice of Guyana in 1996, Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and the Caribbean in 2001 and a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2005. In 2014, she was appointed to the Bermuda Court of Appeal.
Manuel Marchena Gómez is a Spanish judge and prosecutor. He currently serves as Magistrate of the Supreme Court and Chairman of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court.
The National Board of Justice, formerly the National Council of the Magistrature, is an autonomous constitutional institution that is part of the Republic of Peru. Its primary function is to appoint and ratify all judges and prosecutors in the Peruvian justice system as well as to remove those that fail to fulfill their responsibilities.
Prior to the 20th Century, there were few women in law in the United Kingdom. Prior to the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, women were not permitted to practice law in the United Kingdom. By 1931 there were around 100 female solicitors. The first female-only law partnership was founded in 1933. By 2019 51% of British solicitors were women.
Maria Paulina Aguirre Suárez is an Ecuadorian judge and lawyer, who became president of the National Court of Justice on 26 January 2018. At the time, she had 30 years of judicial experience and was the first woman to hold the position. Her election was by unanimous decision of the 21 magistrates in the plenary session of the court.
Silvia Patricia Valdés Quezada is a lawyer who served as the third female president of the Supreme Court of Justice and the judicial branch of Guatemala, from 2019 until 2023.
Doris Perla Morales Martínez is a Uruguayan lawyer who serves as a minister of the Supreme Court of Uruguay.
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