Margaret M. McChesney

Last updated

Margaret M. McChesney was the first female lawyer to appear before the full bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Contents

Personal life and education

McChesney was graduated from the Portia School of Law in 1921. [1] [2] [3] She was from Boston [4] and Quincy [5] Massachusetts.

McChesney became the first female lawyer to appear before the full bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1926 when she represented a client charged with drunk driving. [1] [6] In 1931, she was admitted to the bar in federal courts. [5] She was "one of the most successful lawyers in Boston." [3]

She was a member of Phi Delta Delta. [4] McChesney also taught law at Portia Law School. [2] [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

New England Law | Boston is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1908. According to New England Law's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, the class of 2018 had a full-time employment rate of 83.4% with 4% pursuing an additional degree.

Charlotte E. Ray lawyer

Charlotte E. Ray was the first Black American female lawyer in the United States. Ray graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1872. She was also the first female admitted to the District of Columbia Bar, and the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Her admission was used as a precedent by women in other states who sought admission to the bar.

Walbridge A. Field American judge

Walbridge Abner Field was an American lawyer, jurist and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts, and as the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He was born in North Springfield, Vermont on April 26, 1833. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1855, where he also served as a tutor. He studied law in Boston, Massachusetts and at the Harvard Law School. Field was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Boston. He served as a member of the City's school committee, and represented wards 5 and 8 on Boston's Common Council.

Ruth Ida Abrams was the first female justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, where she served from 1978 to 2000, and the first female appellate justice in Massachusetts.

Paul Julian Liacos was the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1989 to 1996.

Martha B. Sosman was an American lawyer and jurist from Massachusetts. Appointed by Governor Paul Cellucci, she served as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 2000 until her death.

Nancy Gertner American judge

Nancy Gertner is a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She assumed senior status on May 22, 2011, and retired outright from the federal bench on September 1, 2011. She is now a professor of practice at Harvard Law School.

Francis Patrick O'Connor was an associate judge of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

David Eldridge Harrison is a former American politician, lobbyist, and judge who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and as Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Arthur Prentice Rugg American judge

Arthur Prentice Rugg was a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1906 to 1938, serving as Chief Justice from 1911 to 1938. He was appointed by Governor Eugene Foss.

William Loring was a Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from September 7, 1899 to September 16, 1919. He was appointed by Governor Roger Wolcott.

Margaret F. McGovern was an American attorney and political candidate who was one of the first female candidates to seek statewide office in Massachusetts.

Paul Grattan Kirk was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Jean H. Norris American judge

Jean Hortense Norris was an American judge, the first woman magistrate in New York City. She was appointed to the bench in 1919, but disbarred in 1931, for judicial malfeasance.

Anna Christy Fall American lawyer

Anna Christy Fall was an American lawyer. She the "first woman lawyer in Massachusetts to plead a case before a jury and the first to argue before the Massachusetts Supreme Court".

Pamela Burgy Minzner (1943-2007) was the New Mexico Supreme Court’s first female Chief Justice.

Emma Fall Schofield was, along with Sadie Lipner Shulman, the first female judge in Massachusetts.

Sadie Lipner Shulman was, along with Emma Fall Schofield, the first female judge in Massachusetts.

Ethel E. Mackiernan was the first woman appointed to a presiding judgeship in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

References

  1. 1 2 "Portia Law School Facts" (PDF). PRIMARY AUTHORITY. New England School of Law. October 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Smith, Bonnie Hurd; Boston Women's Heritage Trail (Organization) (January 1, 2008). Boston women & the law: a walking trail through four centuries of Boston women's legal history. New England Law - Boston. ISBN   978-0-9791214-3-2 . Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  3. 1 2 Case and Comment. Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company. 1929. p. viii. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Portia Law Graduates to go to P.D.D. Meeting". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. August 23, 1930. p. 5.
  5. 1 2 "111 admitted to practice in United States Courts". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. December 2, 1931. p. 17 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Woman lawyer will argue before full bench today". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. October 19, 1926. p. 3. Retrieved February 16, 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  7. American Law School Review. West Publishing Company. 1934. p. 380. Retrieved 15 February 2020.