This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in South 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.
William John Janklow was an American lawyer and politician and member of the Republican Party who holds the record for the longest tenure as Governor of South Dakota: sixteen years in office. Janklow had the third-longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,851 days.
Joseph Henry Bottum was an American politician. He served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota and as a member of the United States Senate from South Dakota.
Gladys Shields Pyle was an American educator and national record setting female politician during the first score of years post-ratification of Women's Suffrage Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, who set numerous national and state partisan electoral records before the age of 50, including at least a dozen national records related to her 1938 U. S. Senate election. Her most significant national electoral records are:
Larry Long is an American judge and the former 29th Attorney General of the state of South Dakota, United States. A Republican, he was first elected Attorney General in 2002 and left office in 2009 to accept an appointment by Gov. Mike Rounds to a judgeship in the state’s Second Judicial District.
The University of South Dakota School of Law also known as University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law or USD Law in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, is a professional school of the University of South Dakota and the only law school in the state of South Dakota. Established in 1901, by U.S. Ambassador Bartlett Tripp and U.S. Senator Thomas Sterling. The law school is home to approximately 168 students and has more than 3,000 alumni. With 168 J.D. candidates, it is currently the second-smallest law school and smallest public law school student population among the American Bar Association accredited law schools.
Roger Leland Wollman is a senior United States Circuit Judge and former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He is the older brother of Harvey Wollman, former Governor of South Dakota.
Karen Elizabeth Schreier is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota and was the 36th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of South Dakota may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in South Dakota, and same-sex marriages have been recognized since June 2015 as a result of Obergefell v. Hodges. State statutes do not address discrimination on account of sexual orientation or gender identity; however, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County established that employment discrimination against LGBTQ people is illegal under federal law.
Brendan Van Johnson is an American attorney who served as the 40th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Tim Johnson and currently is a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP, where he serves as the Chair of the Firm's National Business Litigation Group and Member of the Firm's Executive Board. In 2024, Johnson was recognized as one of America's Top 200 Lawyers for his litigation work and representation of Native American tribes.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Dakota since June 26, 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the U.S. Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry. Attorney General Marty Jackley issued a statement critical of the ruling but said South Dakota is obligated to comply and the state would recognize same-sex marriages.
Cannabis in South Dakota is legal for medical use as of July 1, 2021, having been legalized by a ballot initiative on November 3, 2020. Prior to then, cannabis was fully illegal, with South Dakota being the only U.S. state which outlawed ingestion of controlled substances. Testing positive for cannabis can be a misdemeanor offense. South Dakota would have become the first state in US history to legalize recreational and medical cannabis simultaneously, but an amendment legalizing recreational marijuana that was approved in the same election was struck down as unconstitutional the following February. The challenge claimed the amendment violated Amendment Z, the "Single-Subject Rule". The decision was appealed to the South Dakota Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court's decision on November 24, 2021.
Randolph John Seiler was an American attorney and veteran serving as the chair of the Democratic Party of South Dakota from 2019-2023. He served as the 41st United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota from 2015 until his retirement in 2017. Seiler was previously the Deputy United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota.
Jason Richard Ravnsborg is an American attorney and politician. A Republican, he served as Attorney General of South Dakota from 2019 until his removal in 2022. Ravnsborg ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, losing in the Republican primary to former Governor Mike Rounds, who won the general election.
The 2018 South Dakota Attorney General election was held on November 6, 2018. Incumbent attorney general Marty Jackley was term-limited and ran for Governor of South Dakota. In June 2018, the South Dakota Republican party nominated Jason Ravnsborg for attorney general and the Democratic party nominated Randy Seiler. Ravnsborg won the election to become the 31st attorney general of South Dakota.
Abortion in South Dakota is illegal. Anyone who induces an abortion is guilty of a Class 6 felony. An exception is included to "preserve the life of the pregnant female," given appropriate and reasonable medical judgment.
Marty Indian School is a K-12 tribal boarding school in Marty, South Dakota. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). It is on the Yankton Indian Reservation. The Yankton Sioux Tribe owns the facilities and directly manages the school.