List of first women lawyers and judges in South Carolina

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

Sherri Lydon: First female U.S. Attorney in South Carolina (2018)

Law School

• First female law graduate: Claudia J. Sullivan (1918) ^[1]

Lawyers

• First female: James M. Perry (1918) ^[2]
• First African American female: Cassandra E. Maxwell (1938) ^[3]
• First female to practice in South Carolina's federal courts: Sue Evelyn Lester ^[4]

State judges

• First female (magistrate): Kitty Herbert in 1979 ^[5]
• First female (judge): Judy Bridges in 1983 ^{[6] [7]}
• First female (Acting; South Carolina Supreme Court): Carol Connor in 1984 ^[8]
• First female (South Carolina Supreme Court): Jean H. Toal in 1988 ^[9]
• First female (South Carolina Circuit Court): Carol Connor in 1988 ^[8]
• First African American female (family court): Abigail Rogers in 1991 ^{[10] [11]}
• First female (South Carolina Court of Appeals): Carol Connor in 1993 ^[12]
• First female (Chief Justice; South Carolina Supreme Court): Jean H. Toal in 2000 ^[9]

Federal judges

• First female (federal court): Jean Galloway Bissell in 1984 ^[9]
• First female (United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit): Karen J. Williams (1980) in 1992 ^[13]
• First African American female (U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina): Margaret B. Seymour (1977) in 1998 ^[14]
• First African American female from South Carolina (United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit): DeAndrea G. Benjamin in 2023 ^[15]

Deputy Attorney General

• First female: Karen L. Henderson ^{[16] [17]}

United States Attorney

• First female: Sherri Lydon in 2018 ^[18]

South Carolina Bar Association

• First female president: Elaine Fowler in 1993 ^[9]
• First African American female president: Shaheena Bennett in 2024 ^[19]

Firsts in local history

• Courtney Clyburn-Pope: ^[20] First female (and African American) to serve as a resident judge (Second Judicial Circuit) in Aiken County, South Carolina (2019)
• Grace White (1937): ^[21] First female lawyer in Beaufort, South Carolina [ Beaufort County, South Carolina]
• Mabel Lee Parrott Shuler: ^[22] First female (non-attorney) magistrate in Berkeley County, South Carolina (1984)
• Clyde Best Sandifer: ^[23] First female (non-attorney) magistrate in Bamberg County, South Carolina (1960)
• Hannah R. Axelman (1931): ^{[24] [25]} First female lawyer in Charleston County, South Carolina
• Ruth Cupp: ^[26] First female lawyer admitted to the Charleston County Bar Association
• Margie Elizabeth Fuller Cannon: ^[27] First female magistrate in Charleston County, South Carolina (1968)
• Barbara Usher Griffin: ^[28] First female magistrate judge for Chester County, South Carolina
• Nettie B. Cusack: First African American Female Probate Judge in Dorchester County (2005-2011)
• Carolyn Smith Knight: ^[29] First female magistrate in Florence County, South Carolina
• Nancy Isabelle Richardson Shelley: ^[30] First female magistrate in Horry County, South Carolina
• Foye Covington: ^[31] First female magistrate in Orangeburg County, South Carolina (1999)
• Jasmine Twitty: ^{[32] [33] [34]} First female (and African American female) to become the youngest judge appointed in Easley, South Carolina (Pickens County, South Carolina; 2015)
• Karen Sanchez Roper: ^[35] First female resident judge in Pickens County, South Carolina (2016)

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in South Dakota
• 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 South Carolina

References

1. "History - School of Law | University of South Carolina". www.sc.edu. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
2. "SCWLA - Timeline". www.scwla.org. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
3. Smith, J. Clay Jr. (1999-01-01). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844–1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   0812216857.
4. "Women's Legal History | Biographical Search". Women's Legal History. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
5. "119th Session, H. 4810". South Carolina General Assembly. 2011–2012.
6. Burke, W. Lewis Jr.; Assey, Joan P. (2015-12-22). Madam Chief Justice: Jean Hoefer Toal of South Carolina. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN   9781611176933.
7. "Women - South Carolina Encyclopedia". South Carolina Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
8. "State's first female circuit court judge dies at 54". Spartanburg Herald Journal. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
9. "SCWLA - South Carolina Women Lawyers Association". www.scwla.org. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
10. Cook, Julian Abele (1996). Washington, Linn (ed.). "Dream Makers: Black Judges on Justice". Michigan Law Review. 94 (6): 1479–1494. doi:10.2307/1289957. ISSN   0026-2234.
11. "1995 Permanent Senate Journal Printed Pages 3080-3089 - South Carolina Legislature Online". www.scstatehouse.gov. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
12. "State's first female circuit court judge dies at 54". Spartanburg Herald Journal. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
13. "SC native, federal judge retires after Alzheimer's diagnosis" . Retrieved 2018-02-09.
14. "1999-2000 Bill 3608: The Honorable Margaret B. Seymour, Resolutions - South Carolina Legislature Online". www.scstatehouse.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
15. "Civility on the bench". University of South Carolina. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
16. Judiciary, United States Congress Senate Committee on the (1987). Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, First Session, on Confirmation Hearings on Appointments to the Federal Judiciary and the Department of Justice. U.S. Government Printing Office.
17. Congress, United States (1990). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office.
18. "SC's first female US attorney Sherri Lydon is on the job". thestate. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
19. "Board of Governors". South Carolina Bar. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
20. Girardeau, Tripp. "Aiken County gets first resident judge in almost 80 years". Aiken Standard. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
21. "USC Beaufort's first downtown student housing to open soon | TheDigitel". www.thedigitel.com. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
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26. "Our History: Ruth Cupp, attorney, legislator, historian – City of North Charleston, SC" . Retrieved 2024-08-13.
27. "Pioneering female magistrate dies". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
28. Home, Pollard Funeral. "Obituary for Barbara Usher Griffin". Obituary for Barbara Usher Griffin. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
29. "Judge Carolyn Smith Knight". SCNow. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
30. Black The Sun News, G. (2003, February 2). JUDGE SHELLEY A HARD WORKER, HONEST, FAIR, COMPASSIONATE. <em>Sun News, The (Myrtle Beach, SC)</em>, p. C2. Available from NewsBank: Access World News: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/0F902A9B38362BBC.
31. GLEATON, D. (2002, September 30). A lifetime of reading: Edisto Book Club marks 75th anniversary with tree plantings. <em>Times and Democrat, The (Orangeburg, SC)</em>. Available from NewsBank: Access World News: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/115E0FFC0134F9A8.
32. "How Jasmine Twitty is Making History as a 25-Year-Old Judge". 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
33. "Making History: Jasmine Twitty becomes youngest appointed judge in America | Black Star News". www.blackstarnews.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
34. Gershman, Jacob (2016-05-18). "Meet 26-Year-Old Judge Jasmine Twitty". WSJ. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
35. "Pickens County gets first woman resident judge". The Greenville News. Retrieved 2018-12-26.