List of first women lawyers and judges in North Dakota

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

Heidi Heitkamp: First female Attorney General for North Dakota (1993)

Lawyers

• First female: Helen Hamilton (c. 1925) ^[1]
• First female to argue before the North Dakota Supreme Court: Mildred Johnson (1939) ^{[2] [3] [4]}

State judges

• First female (tribal judge for the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation): Rose K. Ecoffey during the 1940s ^{[5] [6] [7]}
• First female (North Dakota Supreme Court): Beryl J. Levine (1974) in 1985 ^[8]
• First female (district court): Cynthia A. Rothe-Seeger (1975) in 1988 ^[9]
• First female (Southwest Judicial District): Rhonda Ehlis in 2015 ^[10]
• First female (Southeast Judicial District): Cherie Clark in 2017 ^[11]

Federal judges

• First female (bankruptcy court): Shon Hastings in 2011 ^[12]

Attorney General for North Dakota

• First female: Heidi Heitkamp (1980) from 1993-2000 ^[13]

Political Office

• First female (U.S. Senate): Heidi Heitkamp (1980) in 2013 ^[13]

State Bar Association of North Dakota

• First female president: Rebecca Thiem in 1996 ^[14]

Firsts in local history

• Rhonda Ehlis: ^[10] First female appointed as a Judge of the Southwest Judicial District in North Dakota (2015) [Adams, Billings, Bowman, Dunn, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Slope and Stark Counties, North Dakota]
• Cherie Clark: ^[11] First female judge appointed to the Southeast Judicial District [Barnes, Dickey, Eddy, Foster, Griggs, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Stutsman and Wells Counties]
• Cynthia A. Rothe-Seeger (1975): ^[9] First female appointed as a Judge of the East Central Judicial District in North Dakota (1988) [Cass, Steele and Traill Counties, North Dakota]
• Beryl J. Levine (1974): ^{[8] [15]} First female to serve as the President of the Cass County Bar Association, North Dakota (1984)
• Haley Wamstad: ^[16] First female elected as the state's attorney in Grand Forks County, North Dakota (2018)
• Robin A. Schmidt: ^[17] First female district judge in McKenzie County, North Dakota (2013)
• Kirsten Sjue (2006): ^{[18] [19]} First female judge in Williams County, North Dakota (2015)

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 North Dakota

References

1. "20th Annual Helen Hamilton Day". www.ndcourts.gov. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
2. "Mildred Johnson, 96". Daily News & News Monitor. Archived from the original on July 14, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
3. "INFORUM: One of ND's first female lawyers reflects on career: North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) | Wahpeton/Fargo". www.ndscs.edu. Archived from the original on July 14, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
4. Glass-Moore, Adrian; Sep 19th 2014 - 11pm, Forum News Service |. "Mildred Johnson, first woman to serve on ND higher education board, dies at age 96". The Dickinson Press. Archived from the original on July 14, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
5. Dowling, Timothy C. (2005). Personal Perspectives: World War II. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9781851095759. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
6. The Michigan Historical Review. Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University. 1994. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
7. Reyer, Carolyn; Medicine, Beatrice; Plume, Debra Lynn White (December 1991). Cante ohitika win (brave-hearted women): images of Lakota women from the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. University of South Dakota Press. ISBN   9780929925141.
8. "Beryl J. Levine". www.ndcourts.gov. Archived from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
9. "Cynthia A. Rothe-Seeger, District Judge". www.ndcourts.gov. Archived from the original on May 28, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
10. Wernette, Andrew (November 16, 2017). "Ehlis, first female Southwest District judge talks life, experience..." www.thedickinsonpress.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
11. Nelson, TJ (September 14, 2017). "ND Judicial District to Swear in First Female Judge - KVRR Local News". KVRR Local News. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
12. "ND's federal bankruptcy court judge sworn in". Archived from the original on January 10, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
13. "Election Night in North Dakota on KFYR-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader". May 20, 2013. Archived from the original on May 20, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
14. "From Carbon Paper To The Cloud—50 Years Of Change - State Bar Association of North Dakota". www.sband.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
15. "Mother of Five Beryl Levine Cooks Up a Second Career—as a State Supreme Court Judge". PEOPLE.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
16. Williams, Tess (November 10, 2018). "Haley Wamstad first woman elected as Grand Forks County state's..." www.grandforksherald.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
17. Ruggles, Kate (September 18, 2013). "SCHMIDT BECOMES STATE'S NEWEST DISTRICT JUDGE". www.watfordcitynd.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
18. "Kirsten M. Sjue, District Judge". www.ndcourts.gov. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
19. Hackenburg, Elizabeth (October 3, 2015). "Williston's own Sjue first female judge in Williams County". Williston Herald.