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Southwestern Law School; Los Angeles: 150 Years of Women in Law
Southwestern Law School
Los Angeles
150 Years of Women in Law
www.swlaw.edu/berry
www.swlaw.edu/berry
www.swlaw.edu/berry
www.swlaw.edu/berry
Betty Trier Berry became Southwestern’s first graduate in 1915. for a law student, who will work at Legal Aid Services of Oregon in the summer of 2019.
In 2019, in celebration of OWLS’ 30th anniversary, the Foundation launched the Oregon Women Lawyers Foundation Legacy Society to honor donors who have pledged a gift to the Foundation through their estate or financial plans.
RHODE ISLAND
RHODE ISLAND WOMEN’S BAR ASSOCIATION & THE HISTORY OF WOMEN LAWYERS IN OUR STATE
Nicole P. Dyszlewski, Esq., Cassandra L. Feeney, Esq. and Gina Renzulli Lemay, Esq. 1
Every year in recent memory, the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association (RIWBA) and the student Women’s Law Society of Roger Williams University School of Law (RWU Law) join together at an annual dinner named Women in Robes. At this yearly event, members of the Rhode Island bench and bar join law students for dinner, fellowship, and a short speaking program. At the Women in Robes event in 2017, a speech by Rhode Island Superior Court Justice Nettie Vogel piqued much interest when she spoke of historical underrepresentation of women attorneys in Rhode Island. Out of this speech grew an intensive statewide collaborative effort to rediscover the history of women in law in our state. Beyond rediscovering the names of these women, we rediscovered, retold, and celebrated their lives, their careers, and their stories, even joining together to commemorate a plaque in honor of these “First Women” at the law school in April 2019. This article is a brief summary of the work done in Rhode Island by members of the RWU Law staff, faculty, and administration with the help of members of the state judiciary, the state bar association, members of the bench and bar, friends and family of these early women attorneys, and, of course, the RIWBA.
In order to celebrate the early women lawyers in our state, we had to first figure out who they were. One of the most surprising parts of our state’s story is that no one in Rhode Island has been tracking members of the bar by gender in any wholistic way. As one might expect, that makes researching the history of women attorneys in our state quite a challenge.
Because there was no one entity that had tracked gender of lawyers in the state, researchers had to attempt to re-create a list. An incomplete list was found in an old filing cabinet and was used as a starting point of sorts. From there, the research team amassed the most complete collection to date by reviewing old news articles, historical law firm advertisements, old Supreme Court rolls, historical bar association yearbooks, historical bar application information, bar association archived data, and many conversations with community members. RWU Law Library researchers discovered that others, namely Cassandra L. Feeney and the RIWBA, had started similar projects. All involved shared their work to try to compile the most accurate list to date. The list was published in the Rhode Island Bar Journal with a statement that encouraged community members to send names of known or possible women who may have been overlooked or omitted. The legal community responded with several names and recollections, which were then further explored by the research team. The research was made especially challenging because of the practice of some women of taking their spouses’ names upon marriage. Led by the diligent efforts of researcher Nicole P. Dyszlewski and members of the RWU Law Library staff, we now have the clearest picture of the early women attorneys in our state that we have ever had.
The first woman admitted to the Rhode Island bar was Ada L. Sawyer. Rhode Island’s foremost Ada L. Sawyer scholar is another female lawyer in our state, Denise Aiken. Aiken describes the hurdles Sawyer had to overcome in a 2010 article, stating:
The story of female attorneys in Rhode Island is dynamic, inspiring, and important. They were not just female attorneys. They were attorneys and mothers, daughters, wives, state senators, elected officials, fearsome litigators, CEOs, judges, newsmakers, standard bearers, glass ceiling breakers, activists, partners, leaders, and icons.
These 176 “First Women” were trailblazers. They include the first three female Supreme Court justices in Rhode Island, one of whom – the Hon. Maureen McKenna Goldberg – remains on the bench today. 5 These “First Women” include at least 23 judges and justices who have sat on the Housing Court, Probate Court, Family Court, District Court, Superior Court, and the Supreme Court. According to our research, the earliest of the female lawyers who were admitted and are still alive were admitted in the 1950s (1953 and 1957).
Nationally, only two women from Rhode Island have served on the NCWBA board. The first was Mary E. Brooner from Providence in 1991-1995, and the second was Kate Ahern from Providence in 2017-2019.
The story of female attorneys in Rhode Island is dynamic, inspiring, and important. They were not just female attorneys. They were attorneys and mothers, daughters, wives, state senators, elected officials, fearsome litigators, CEOs, judges, newsmakers, standard bearers, glass ceiling breakers, activists, partners, leaders, and icons. They should be remembered for their contributions to law, to our state, and to the lives of all female attorneys now and to come in Rhode Island. 6
Endnotes 1. Nicole P. Dyszlewski, is the Head of Reference, Instruction, and Engagement at the Roger Williams University School of Law Library, Gina Renzulli Lemay is the current President of the RIWBA, and Cassandra L. Feeney is a member of the Board of Directors for the RIWBA. 2. Aiken, Denise, “Ada L. Sawyer: The Providence Portia,” RI Bar Journal, Vol. 59, No. 2, Sept./Oct. 2010, pages 31-32. Available at: https://www.ribar.com/UserFiles/File/Sept-Oct_2010%20Jrnl.pdf 3. Aiken, Denise, “Ada L. Sawyer: The Providence Portia,” Roger Williams University Law Review, Vol. 16, Iss. 2, Art. 1, 2011. Available at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR/vol16/iss2/ 4. One hundred seventy-six is the number of female attorneys admitted in Rhode Island in the first 60 years beginning in 1920 researchers have been able to identify at this time. New names and leads are continuously being pursued and this number could increase with new light being shed on these amazing women. 5. The first three women Supreme Court Justices in Rhode Island include the Honorable Florence Murray, the Honorable Victoria Lederberg, and the Honorable Maureen McKenna Goldberg. Tucker, Eric, “Veteran Judge Takes Over Top Spot on R.I. High Court,” South Coast Today, Jan. 4, 2009. Available at: https://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20090104/News/901040336 6. For more information on the history of female attorneys and their stories, Cassandra L. Feeney and Etie-Lee Schaub author a continuing series published in the Rhode Island Bar Journal. See, e.g., Cassandra L. Feeney, Esq., and Etie-Lee Schaub, Esq., “Rhode Island Women Lawyers: Past, Present, & Future – Susan Leach DeBlasio, Esq.,” RI Bar Journal, Vol. 67, No. 5, March/April 2019, pages 21-22. Available at: https://www.ribar.com/UserFiles/File/CMSUploadFiles/RI%20Bar_Mar- Apr_2019.pdf; Cassandra L. Feeney, Esq., and Etie-Lee Schaub, “Rhode Island Women Lawyers: Past, Present, & Future – The Honorable Netti C. Vogel,” RI Bar Journal, Vol. 67, No. 3, Nov./Dec. 2018, page 13. Available at: https://www.ribar.com/UserFiles/RI%20Bar_Nov-Dec2018_Jrnl(2).pdf. Additional information about the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association, including newsletters and publications with further information on the history of Rhode Island women attorneys, is available at: https://www.riwba.com/
SOUTH CAROLINA
SOUTH CAROLINA WOMEN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
The South Carolina Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) was founded through the sheer willpower and determination of countless women who devoted their time and energy to ensure that practicing law is now easier for women lawyers than it was in years past. After a series of organizational meetings that began in the summer of 1993, SCWLA was incorporated and registered with the South Carolina secretary of state in 1994.
The mission of SCWLA is to enhance the status, influence, and effectiveness of women lawyers in the state of South Carolina. Through advocacy, action, and association, SCWLA works to ensure that women lawyers achieve their fair share of opportunities and benefits available to those in the legal profession.
SCWLA’s goals are to encourage and promote the advancement of women in the profession of law; to provide opportunities for the development of collegiality and mentoring among women lawyers; to enhance the professional lives of women lawyers; to increase the number of women in the judiciary; and to provide a forum to consider and address issues unique to women in the legal profession.
Today, SCWLA has more than 900 members and an active member board of directors (the number varies, but cannot exceed 25). The organization, at both the regional and statewide levels, offers opportunities for its members to hone their skills, network, gain recognition, and help other women through activities that include:
• regular regional lunches and other networking events;
• the provision of information on the state’s judicial selection process and recognition of members who are running for a judgeship;
• the provision of information on vacancies on and the process for consideration for state boards and commissions;
• awards for women lawyers to recognize their work, leadership, and contributions;
• opportunities for members to provide community service and pro bono legal assistance; and
• more than ten 1-3 hour continuing legal education programs a year, in addition to SCWLA’s annual conference.
Timeline: South Carolina Women in the Law and SCWLA
• 1890: The first women enter the University of South Carolina School of Law, but eventually drop out, probably because women were not permitted to practice law. Before women were admitted to the bar in South Carolina, some attended law school outside of the state and then returned to practice without appearing in court.
• 1916: Claudia James Sullivan enters the University of South Carolina School of Law by convincing the faculty that legislation permitting women to practice law was pending. At this time, all students who graduated from law school, male or female, were automatically admitted to the bar without taking the bar examination.
• 1918: On Feb. 14, Gov. Richard I. Manning signs the bill permitting women to practice law. This legislation was initiated by Sullivan and her supporters. May 3: James Perry, named after her father, becomes the first woman admitted to the South Carolina Bar. June 12: Sullivan is the first woman to graduate from the University of South Carolina School of Law.
• 1923: The first women-only law firm in South Carolina is formed, and includes Julia David Charles and Anna McCants Beaty, both of Greenville.
• 1925: The South Carolina General Assembly passes an act that moves toward emancipating married women, allowing them to sue and be sued.
• 1937: Perry becomes the first woman partner in a South Carolina law firm.
• 1941: Cassandra E. Maxwell becomes the first African-American woman to be admitted to the South Carolina Bar.
• 1970: Ellen Hines Smith is the first woman judge appointed in Spartanburg County.
• 1982: The South Carolina General Assembly first elects a woman, Judy Bridges, as a family court judge by one vote.
• 1984: Jean Galloway Bissell is the first woman from South Carolina to serve as a federal judge. President Ronald Reagan appoints her to the U.S. Tax Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
• 1988: Jean Hoefer Toal is the first woman elected by the South Carolina General Assembly to the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Jan. 24: Carol Connor is the first woman elected by the South Carolina General Assembly to serve as a South Carolina Circuit Court judge.
• 1992: Karen J. Williams is the first woman from South Carolina appointed as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
• 1993: Elaine H. Fowler becomes the first woman president of the South Carolina Bar. June 2: The South Carolina General Assembly elects Connor as the first woman to serve on the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Sept. 22: The first organizational meeting of the SCW- LA is held in the auditorium of the University of South Carolina School of Law.
• 1994: SCWLA is incorporated and registered with the South Carolina secretary of state.
• 1998: Margaret B. Seymour is the first African- American woman appointed as a federal judge in South Carolina (judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina).
• 1999: Judge Kaye G. Hearn is the first woman elected by the South Carolina General Assembly to serve as chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals.
• 2000: Jean Hoefer Toal is elected by the South Carolina General Assembly as the first woman chief justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina.
• 2004: SCWLA forms the Ladder Group, chaired by Barbara Barton, to promote women lawyers for leadership positions.
• 2009: On May 27, 2009, the South Carolina Court of Appeals convenes its first all-women panel including Hearn, Judge Paula H. Thomas, and Judge Aphrodite K. Konduros.
• 2011: SCWLA creates the South Carolina Women Lawyers Foundation as a separate nonprofit corporation, with its own board of directors.
• 2018: Sherri A. Lydon is the first woman appointed as the U.S. attorney in South Carolina.
• 2019: April 2 is proclaimed “Women in the Law” Day by Gov. Henry D. McMaster to recognize the contribution of women lawyers in South Carolina to the field of law. The proclamation provides: WHEREAS, in 1916, the first woman was admitted to the University of South Carolina School of Law by convincing the faculty that pending legislation supported permitting women to practice law; and WHEREAS, on February 14, 1918, Governor Richard I. Manning signed that legislation, and women were granted the authority to practice law in the State of South Carolina; and WHEREAS, during the past century, women lawyers across the Palmetto State have made great strides in their field, serving as leaders in law firms, government agencies, corporations, and public service organizations, and judges at local, state, and federal levels; and WHEREAS, as leaders in public service, South Carolina women lawyers not only work to secure their own rights of equal opportunity but also are advocates in efforts to secure and protect the rights of others; and WHEREAS, in 2019, approximately 35 percent of lawyers registered by the South Carolina Bar are women. NOW, THEREFORE, I, Henry McMaster, Governor of the great State of South Carolina, do hereby proclaim April 2, 2019 as throughout the state and encourage all South Carolinians to recognize the many contributions women have made in the field of law.
WOMEN IN THE LAW DAY
TEXAS
TEXAS WOMEN LAWYERS
In a state as big as Texas, there are many people and many different voices. Texas Women Lawyers (TWL) serves as an umbrella group, uniting the many women’s bar associations and organizations across the state to share ideas and resources and to speak with a common voice on women’s issues in the law and in the legal profession. TWL is celebrating a quarter of a century since its founding and more than a century of contributions from those women who paved the way before us.
A History of Women Lawyers in Texas
The history of women lawyers in Texas is filled with women who have made their mark on the state and national scenes. Following is a brief chronology of the accomplishments of just a few of these Texas trailblazers.
• 1902: Edith W. Locke was the first woman granted a law license in Texas, when she was admitted to practice before the courts of El Paso County.
• 1910: Hortense Sparks Ward was the first woman to pass the state bar exam, and in 1915, the first Texas woman lawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
• 1935: Sarah T. Hughes was the first woman appointed as a state district judge, and in 1961, the first woman appointed as a federal judge in Texas, later earning the distinction of being the only woman to have ever sworn in a U.S. president – Lyndon B. Johnson.
• 1953: Charlye O. Farris was the first African-American woman admitted to the State Bar of Texas, and the next year, the first African-American woman to sit as a county judge pro tem in the state.
• 1955: Edna Cisneros was the first Hispanic American female admitted to the State Bar of Texas and to serve as a district attorney in the state.
• 1981: Sandra Day O’Connor, an El Paso native, was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• 1982: Ruby Kless Sondock was the first woman appointed as a regular justice to the Supreme Court of Texas.
• 1992: Rose Spector was the first woman elected as a justice to the Supreme Court of Texas.
These Texas women lawyers and their “firsts” are chronicled in the book Rough Road to Justice: The Journey of Women Lawyers in Texas, published in 2008 by historian Betty Trapp Chapman with the support of the State Bar of Texas and its Women in the Profession Committee. One of the most storied instances from the book (and pictured on the cover) is the “All-Woman Supreme Court of Texas,” formed in 1925. The governor appointed all female justices to this special court to preside over Johnson v. Darr, following the recusal of a number of male justices who were members of a fraternal organization that was a party to the case. Led by Special Chief Justice Hortense Ward, the court issued a unanimous decision in favor of the fraternal organization and then disbanded. It was another 30 years before women could legally serve on juries in Texas, 57 years before Sondock would be appointed as the first regular female justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, and 66 years before another state high court’s justices would be majority female.
A History of Texas Women Lawyers
TWL is committed to the empowerment of women lawyers to achieve full rights, privileges, and responsibilities in the legal profession. Through our network, we advocate the interests of women in the justice system and society. Our stated purposes include:
• To promote and protect the interests of women attorneys and to achieve their full participation in all the rights, privileges, and benefits of the legal profession;
• To advance opportunities for women attorneys and to improve access to positions of merit and responsibility;
• To promote and assist in the organization and growth of local women’s bar associations;
• To serve as a vehicle for the exchange and dissemination of information and ideas among women’s bar associations;
• To promote continuing legal education (CLE); and
• To promote the advancement of women in society and in the administration of justice.
Over the years, TWL has hosted its Annual Meeting and CLE focusing on issues facing women in the profession, networking, and business development. At the event, TWL presents its Pathfinder Award to an individual who has been a champion promoting the advancement of women in the law and who exemplifies professionalism, leadership, and commitment to the public interest. Sondock was the first recipient of the award, in recognition of her contributions as a pioneer on the bench, and we were honored by her presence at our 25th Anniversary Celebration this year. Louise Ballerstedt Raggio, the second recipient of the award, was a Dallas lawyer who was instrumental in the passage of the Marital Property Bill, which removed certain legal disabilities that prohibited married women from owning property in Texas. Other past recipients have been heavily involved in their communities, giving back through programs helping underserved groups such as immigrants, abuse victims, and teens graduating from foster care.
UTAH
WOMEN LAWYERS OF UTAH: PAST AND PRESENT
By Brit Merrill, Historian for Women Lawyers of Utah 1
The Utah Territory was settled by Mormon pioneers who trekked, pushing hand carts and driving covered wagons carrying their children and all their worldly goods, across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains in search of a new home. It was a treacherous journey on which many died – especially the men. Thus, upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the ratio of women to men, among the survivors, was staggeringly high. Clearly, the skills, talents, intellect, and resilience of every pioneer – regardless of gender – was essential to the success of this grand adventure.
To build a new civil society, women not only needed to make homes, provide for their families, procreate, and raise their children, they were expected to participate in virtually every facet of civic life. The Utah Territory was the second place on the continent (on the heels of neighboring Wyoming) to give women the right to vote in 1870; and the victory was achieved with remarkably little controversy, stunning suffragists on the East Coast facing persistent resistance. 2 Similarly, Utah was the first state to grant women the right to serve on juries. Women were given the right to hold public office as part of the new Utah State Constitution in 1896; and Utah was the fourth state to admit women to the bar.
The First 100 Women Lawyers: 1872 to 1976
Cora Georgiana Snow Carleton (1844-1915) and Phoebe Wilson Couzins (1839-1913) were the first two women admitted to the Utah Bar in 1872, and they were admitted on the very same day.
Carleton was born in Canton, Ohio, in 1844, and traveled to Utah by wagon when she was 8 years old. The oldest of seven children in a large Mormon family, Carleton studied law from her father, Zerubbabel Snow, who was an attorney in Salt Lake City, the attorney general for Utah Territory, and, later, an associate justice of the Utah Supreme Court.
Couzins, who was from St. Louis, Missouri, was admitted to the bar in Missouri in 1871 and later to the bars of Arkansas and Kansas. Couzins never lived in Utah. Carleton, on the other hand, remained in Utah for the majority of her life. While she did not practice law, Carleton remained active in legal, political, and intellectual pursuits. Among her many accomplishments, Carleton was elected notary public by the Utah Legislature in 1874, she was a founding member of both the Ladies’ Literary Club in Salt Lake City and the Intermountain Library, and was nominated by the governor to serve as the territorial librarian.
Reva Beck Bosone (1895-1983) received her law degree from the University of Utah College of Law (U Law) in 1930 and was the 14th woman admitted to practice law in Utah. Upon graduation, she worked with her lawyer brother for a time before moving to Helper, Utah, and starting her own law firm. Two years after graduation, she was elected to the Utah State Legislature, and four years after that, she was appointed to serve as the first woman municipal judge, choosing to preside over the police and traffic court because it was the court that “touched the lives of the most people.” Bosone served as a judge until 1948, when she became the first woman elected to represent the state of Utah in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Born in the tiny town of Erda, Utah, Irene Warr (1931- 2013) graduated from U Law in 1957 and became the 38th woman admitted to practice law in Utah, “because she did not want to ride a hay wagon all her life.” She worked her way through college and law school as a legal secretary in a Salt Lake City law office, and upon receiving her JD, continued to work as an attorney in the same office. When her mentor retired, he turned his firm over to her, and she continued to work there for more than 50 years.
Perhaps most importantly, however, law gave Warr the ability and resources to be a force in her community. In addition to being a full-time attorney and mother, she served on numerous nonprofit organization boards, served as president of the Utah Legal Aid Society, and was instrumental in establishing the Meals on Wheels program for senior citizens. She helped start the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation of Utah, which provides grants and scholarships to women who need to improve skills to reenter the labor market, serving as its first president and remaining involved with the foundation for more than 50 years; and she established a softball park in her hometown of Erda to honor her father’s memory.
The “Invasion” Year: 1971
It took more than 100 years for Utah to admit its first 100 women lawyers, but a critical mass was finally achieved with the explosion of the women’s movement in the early 1970s. 3 While only one woman was admitted to the Utah Bar in 1971, a dozen women made up the incoming class at U Law, and from 1971 on, the number of women law students continued to increase each year. 4
It is no wonder the first talk of forming a women’s bar organization did not begin in Utah until the early 1970s. Christine Durham recalls moving to Utah in 1973 and attending the national meeting of women’s law student caucuses held at U Law, where she met a dozen or so female attorneys practicing in Utah, including Utah’s first female judge, Bosone. “I was so excited because I came from North Carolina and Duke, where there were so few women lawyers. Now I found out later, that was it! That was all the women lawyers in Utah.”
From this meeting, a loose association formed and the group instigated biannual luncheons. “Each time we met, our numbers grew, as more women were graduating from law school. And every time we met, we debated whether if we organized we could provide more support to women, especially women coming out of law school.”
In 1977, Margaret Billings and Ann Wasserman wrote letters to the president of the Utah State Bar investigating the feasibility of forming a women’s section within the young lawyers section of the bar. Billings and Wasserman also began contacting women lawyer groups in other states to see how the groups were organized. Billings reflects, “I was once active in trying to put such a group together, but interest at that time among other women attorneys was quite low and it never got off the ground.”
Founding Women Lawyers of Utah: 1981
The debate over whether or not to formally organize continued. One woman lawyer recalls, “There were some rocky times ... and some real hot debates about singling ourselves out as women.” Another recalls, “The older women, those who had been practicing for 20 years or so, were strongly opposed to such an organization. They explained, ‘We’ve spent all our lives fighting to become lawyers rather than women lawyers, and now you young people want to take us backwards.’”
On the other hand, recent graduates like Jan Graham missed the support and camaraderie of the student Women’s Law Caucus. Graham reminisces, “I had a sense of being left alone to navigate this tricky male bastion by myself. Jones Waldo was progressive for the day, but still decidedly male dominated and wary of what women could, and should, contribute to the grand practice of law.”
Pat Christensen, who graduated from law school in 1977, agreed: “We all recognized that it would be nice to have a group of women that we could get together and talk to about some of these issues and try to sort out how we were going to manage having careers and families and do it all and try not to lose our minds.”
Finally, in the fall of 1980, Graham met with Durham and Judge Eleanor Lewis and decided the time was ripe. On Oct. 31, 1980, forty women lawyers met at the New Yorker restaurant in Salt Lake City and unanimously voted to form a women lawyers group in Utah. Several months later, in the spring of 1981, Women Lawyers of Utah (WLU) was born.
Building a Woman’s Presence on the Bench: 1976 to Present
One of the earliest WLU priorities was the appointment of women to the bench. Although Bosone had been Utah’s first woman judge, elected a municipal court judge in 1936, the first woman appointed to a general jurisdiction trial court bench was Durham in 1978, and she continued to be the only woman district court judge in Utah until WLU was formed. In 1981, however, Judith Billings was appointed to the state district court bench, and, in 1982, Durham was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court.
Judge Durham served on the NCWBA board from 1986 to 1988.
In 1987, the Utah Court of Appeals was created, and Judge Billings and Pamela Greenwood were appointed to its seven-member court. From then on, year by year, WLU was successful in encouraging the appointment of more and more women to the federal and state court benches in Utah. Today, 13 of 69 trial court benches in Utah are filled by women, but all sit on the Wasatch Front, leaving no women judges in five of the eight judicial districts across the state.
The Utah Task Force on Gender and Justice: 1988-1994
Following its creation, “WLU exploded with support and enthusiasm. Our numbers grew faster than we ever could have anticipated,” Graham remembers. The new bylaws stated four goals: (1) encourage professional growth and development, (2) assist in establishing professional contacts, (3) provide a support and communication network, and (4) generally promote the professional endeavors of women lawyers in Utah. Graham recounts, “There was always controversy about the mission. Are we a support group? A social group? A political group? A continuing legal education [CLE] vehicle? A career placement program? The answer to all the above was ‘Yes.’” In the 1980s, WLU was at the forefront of several political issues, including organizing a boycott of the Alta Club for its ban on women members.
Between 1988 and 1994, WLU was active in implementing the recommendations of the Utah Task Force on Gender and Justice, which was established in November 1986 by the Utah Judicial Council, at the urging of Durham, to inquire into the nature, extent, and consequences of gender bias as it might exist within the Utah court system. Utah Supreme Court Justice Michael Zimmerman and Aileen Clyde were appointed to chair the task force, which explored courtroom bias against women, domestic violence laws and procedures, court access, child custody, visitation, and alimony. Findings included descriptions of the problems discovered in each area followed by specific recommendations for addressing the issues to eliminate bias.
When the report was released, WLU organized its own task force, under the leadership of WLU President Pat Christensen and Executive Committee Member Paula Smith, to implement the Gender and Justice Task Force recommendations. “There were recommendations for judges and court administrators, for the bar, for the law schools, for the Legislature, for prosecutors, police, the medical community, and ecclesiastical leaders,” recalls Christensen. “It took an army of attorneys and judges to implement the recommendations, but over five or six years, things got a whole lot better because there were so many people who did so much.”
Utah State Bar Leadership
WLU has also worked hard to elect women to the Utah State Bar Commission. In 1990, Greenwood became the first woman Utah State Bar president, followed by four additional women who have now held that position: Charlotte Miller, Debra Moore, Lori Nelson, and Angelina Tsu, who was also the first minority bar president. Today, the Utah Bar Commission is composed of a majority of women.
Initiative on the Advancement and Retention of Women in Law Firms: 2006-2010
In 2006, under the leadership of WLU presidents Evelyn Furse and Melanie Vartebedian, the organization undertook a four-year study to answer two basic questions: 1) Do Utah law firms face greater challenges retaining and promoting female attorneys than male attorneys? And, if so, 2) What concrete, unbiased actions can Utah law firms and Utah attorneys take to meet these challenges? This effort was known as the Initiative on the Advancement and Retention of Women Attorneys. 5 To answer the first question, and, if answered in the affirmative, to isolate the causes, WLU worked with professionals to develop a survey submitted to all Utah attorneys admitted between 1985 and 2005. Following the survey, Utah held symposia in 2009 to explore the challenge further with the help of industry experts and to begin to develop best practices for the advancement and retention of women in the profession. In a report published in 2010, the initiative provided practical and specific steps that firms and attorneys can take to improve firm practice generally and the experience of women attorneys specifically. The initiative and its report generated significant community-wide support and conversation about the issues, followed by concerted efforts on the part of law firms, law departments, and other legal employers to improve the landscape of experience for women in the profession.
In 2020, WLU will publish the results of a follow-up survey going on now to evaluate how far we have come in the 10 years since.
Women Lawyers of Utah Today: 2019
Today, WLU remains a vibrant organization. Run by a 20-woman board, it continues to provide opportunities for Utah’s women lawyers to advance their careers and to give back to their communities in meaningful ways. Through its CLE, Work-Life Balance, and Career Advancement committees, WLU hosts free monthly CLEs, a judicial mentoring program that provides one-on-one mentoring to WLU members actively pursuing judicial vacancies, an annual “Banter with the Bench,” an annual Fireside Chat with Justice Durham, spring and fall networking socials, and an annual weekend retreat. WLU members also sponsor a Girl Scout troop at a local homeless shelter and prepare and serve meals once a month for homeless members of the community.
Each year, WLU presents two awards to outstanding members of Utah’s legal community: the WLU Mentoring Award and the Christine M. Durham Woman Lawyer of the Year Award. WLU also presents scholarships to two exceptional law students each year: one from U Law (the Reva Beck Bosone Scholarship) and one from Brigham Young University Law (the Cora Snow Carleton Scholarship) in memory and honor of two of Utah’s exceptional pioneering women lawyers, who continue to inspire us today.
Endnotes 1. The author greatly relied on and appreciates the previous works written on behalf of the Women Lawyers of Utah, including: Stacie Stewart & Kristen Olsen, Pioneers Who Paved the Way: A Look at Some of Utah’s First Women Lawyers, 287 BYU L. Sch., 1 (2013); Brit Merrill and Adrienne Nash, Women in the Law: Refreshing our Collective Memories, Utah Bar Journal, Nov./ Dec. (2017). 2. In 1887, Utah women’s right to vote was taken away by Congress in the struggle over polygamy, but was restored in 1896 when Utah’s new state constitution was ratified. 3. Between 1872, when the first two women were admitted to the bar, and 1975, only 91 women were admitted to the Utah Bar. In 1976, 28 women graduated together, to finally reach the 119 number. We refer to these 119 women as the “First 100.” Biographical information on each of the 119 women lawyers, photographs, and comments from many of the women about their careers and is available at http://utahwomenlawyers.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Women- Trailblazers-in-the-Law-Booklet.pdf. 4. U Law admitted more women than men to its incoming class for the first time in 1992. Utah’s second law school, the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University (BYU Law), which was founded in 1973, admitted more women than men for the first time in 2018. 5. The full report is available at http://utahwomenlawyers.org/wp-content/uploads/WLU_ Initiative-Report_Final.pdf.
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON WOMEN LAWYERS HISTORY
Washington Women Lawyers (WWL) was formed in 1971 in Seattle as a support for women lawyers and law students and to deal with the problems of women lawyers and the legal problems that have particular impact on women. WWL has continued these efforts to the present.
Washington’s first woman lawyer was Mary Gysin Leonard, a colorful immigrant of Swiss descent who passed the bar exam of the Washington Territory in 1885. Though she was admitted to the Washington Territory bar shortly thereafter, she never practiced in Washington. Rather, she went to Oregon, where her application to the bar – the first received from a woman – was rejected based on her gender. She fought to change the law that denied her admission, and eventually became the first woman admitted to the bar in Oregon as well.
The first women graduates of the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle – Othilia G. Carroll Beals and Bella Weretnikove Rosembaum – graduated in 1901, but it was in 1913 when the first woman was admitted to the Washington State Bar Association – Rebecca “Reba” Jane Hurn, who set up a legal practice in Spokane (she was also the first woman elected to the Washington State Senate). In 1914, Reah Mary Whitehead became one of the first female judges in the nation and the first woman elected to a judicial position in Washington, in the Seattle Justice Court. More than 50 years later, Nancy Ann Holman became the first female Washington Superior Court judge in 1970. Carolyn R. Dimmick was the first female justice on the Washington Supreme Court in 1981. In 2002, Barbara M. Durham became the first woman chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court. And in 2003, for the first time in Washington history, there was a female majority on the Washington Supreme Court. There is now a supermajority of women (six out of nine justices).
Women in Washington were granted the right to vote in 1910 by amendment to the state constitution, 10 years before the U.S. Constitution was amended. Six decades later, Washington was one of the early states that passed an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was effective Dec. 7, 1972, following approval by Washington voters in the November 1972 general election (the federal amendment has not been fully ratified). One of WWL’s major initial goals was passing the ERA to the Washington Constitution. The Washington constitutional amendment ensures that, “Equality of rights and responsibilities under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.” Since its passage, the Washington ERA has been interpreted to allow woman-only groups, e.g. the Washington State Women’s Council in 1973, as forms of “affirmative action plans” that do not conflict with the ERA or the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that such plans are “aimed at enhancing the equality of the sexes.”
WWL began with 10 to 12 women lawyers meeting as a support group, and the organization grew from there. On Aug. 10, 1971, 34 women lawyers and law students met in Seattle, officially founding WWL. The organization was loosely structured with a rotating chairperson to take responsibility for each monthly meeting. Its stated goals were “to promote the implementation of equal rights for women; to help qualified women to secure positions of leadership within the legal system; to interview and rate candidates for judicial office; and to serve as a watchdog to prevent discrimination against women within the legal system, the private sector, government, and wherever else discrimination against women may arise.” Some of the founding members were Mary Ellen Krug, Janice Niemi, Betty Bracelin, Chris Young, Ruth Nordenbrook, Lee Kraft, Betty Fletcher, Linda Dawson, Mary Ellen Hanley, Clair McClaran, Marilyn Sloan, Sheila Eisenberg, Marjory Rombauer, Nancy Bradburn, Gail Barry, Virginia Binns, Susan French, and Rosemarie Vanwinkle.
WWL’s first chapter was founded in 1977 in Spokane, and additional chapters around the state soon followed. The formal organization blossomed out of these early chapters, when it formed a nonprofit corporation in 1978. WWL’s first president was Jane Noland, elected in 1978, and other early members included Chief Justice Mary E. Fairhurst, the Hon. Patricia C. Williams, the Hon. Kathleen O’Connor, and the Hon. Faith Ireland. WWL now has 12 county-based chapters plus a chapter/law caucus at each of the three law schools in Washington. Each chapter is membership-supported and supervised by its own board of directors.
The principal purposes of WWL are to further the full integration of women in the legal profession and to promote equal rights and opportunities for women and to prevent discrimination against them. WWL has more than 550 members statewide. Both at the state and county levels, it provides these members with opportunities for networking, education, and social activities. WWL has a statewide judicial evaluation committee and some local committees, which conduct confidential and impartial evaluations of candidates for judicial office within the state and provide a qualification rating for each candidate based on consistently applied principles. This is a service WWL has provided since soon after its formation.
WWL founders on the cover of the Washington State Bar News (now the NWLawyer).
WWL sponsors a series of public events called “Plugging the Leaky Pipeline,” launched in 2013, consisting of a series of roundtable discussions aimed at finding solutions to the problem of disproportionate attrition of women in the legal profession. Since 1995, WWL has held an annual banquet to celebrate its work over the year, honor and recognize those working to support the mission, and hold its annual corporate meeting. WWL also has a Legacy Project headed by Karrin Klotz, which has archived interviews of pioneer women judges and lawyers in Washington state and compiled portions into a film called Her Day in Court (based on a previous film of the same named produced by the Gender and Justice Commission and the Northwest Women’s Law Center). In 2013, WWL received the Outstanding Member Program Award for this work from the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations.
Throughout its history, WWL has worked to support members in sharing friendship and professional interests; to encourage and assist women to achieve competence and excellence in legal education, in the practice of law, and in the community; to eliminate practices that are detrimental to women in general and in the legal profession in particular; to promote and help implement equal rights for women; and to encourage qualified women and qualified men sensitive to women’s concerns to seek and attain positions of responsibility and stature within the legal profession and the community. WWL will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2021.
WEST VIRGINIA
WEST VIRGINIA WOMEN ATTORNEYS
West Virginia Women Attorneys (WVWA) is the newest statewide women’s bar association in the United States. Teresa McCune, a regional delegate for WVWA who has practiced in southern West Virginia for 39 years, offered her perspective on why our women’s bar formed only recently:
Supporting and uplifting other women are some of our most important responsibilities as women in the profession. But back when I was a young lawyer, there weren’t very many older women attorneys to serve as role models and mentors. WVWA began in September 2016 as a Facebook group, followed by lunches attended by 20 to 25 lawyers each month in Charleston, West Virginia’s state capital. Over the next few months, interest in the lunch groups remained strong, and the Facebook group page grew to more than 750 members from across the state.
By spring 2017, WVWA founder Sandy Kinney realized it was time to create a formal organization but knew that she needed some assistance with that task. The group joined the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations (NCWBA), and Kinney soon began working with NCWBA mentor Elizabeth Bryson, whose guidance was indispensable. The first formation meeting occurred in May 2017, followed by two additional meetings in July.
A diverse group of women attorneys from private practice, public service, and public interest comprised the formation committee:
• Kathy Beckett, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
• Kate Charonko, Bailey & Glasser LLP
• Amy King Condaras, Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC
• Stephanie Coleman, formerly of Legal Aid of West Virginia
• Jamison Cooper, Cooper Law Offices, PLLC
• Kelly Elswick-Hall, Masters Law Firm LC
• Lia DiTrapano Fairless, DiTrapano Law Firm
• Kate Gibson, Littler Mendelson P.C.
• Beth Goodykoontz, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
• Sharon Iskra, Bailey & Glasser LLP
• Beth Kavitz, Kavitz Law PLLC
• Sandra Henson Kinney, Henson Kinney Law, PLLC
• Parween Mascari, small business owner and lobbyist
• Teresa McCune, chief public defender, Mingo County
• Stephanie Ojeda, law clerk to the Hon. Thomas Kleeh, Northern District of West Virginia
• Kate Hartung O’Neal, formerly of LegalShield, Caldwell & Riffee
• Diana Panucci, chief public defender, Kanawha County
• Jessie Robey, Jackson Kelly PLLC
• Liz Schindzielorz, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
On Aug. 17, 2017, the organization’s Articles of Incorporation were filed, and WVWA was official, with a formation board including officers and regional delegates from across the state of West Virginia. Our bylaws, drafted in large part by Panucci and refined with help from Condaras, set forth our mission:
• to promote the welfare, interests, and professional development of women attorneys;
• to advance the honor and integrity of the legal profession by advocating principles of fairness and equality; and
• to serve as a champion of justice for all.
In June 2018, WVWA hosted its inaugural conference and continuing legal education (CLE) at West Virginia University College of Law. The full day of programming featured, among others, Frost Brown Todd LLC’s Kim Mauer, chair of the firm’s Women’s Initiative; Justice Beth Walker, Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia; Susan Brewer, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC’s CEO; Hon. Joanna Tabit, judge, 13th Judicial Circuit, West Virginia; and Marilyn McClure, vice president and associate general counsel, Nationwide.
In late spring 2018, WVWA nominated Cooper, regional delegate and formation board member, to the NCWBA board. Cooper, who has practiced law in northern West Virginia since 1999, is a founder and member at Cooper Law Offices, PLLC in Bridgeport, West Virginia. The NCWBA inducted Cooper to serve as a board member from August 2018 to August 2020. Cooper has found membership on the NCWBA board to be “a great opportunity for our new organization to establish relationships with other women’s bar associations and to learn from them about programs and incentives to benefit our members.”
In October 2018, in the midst of a heated Supreme Court of Appeals election, WVWA hosted a Supreme Court Candidate Forum geared toward non-lawyers and the general public. Eleven candidates participated in the forum. The organization received a grant from the West Virginia Bar Foundation for the event.
The board and a core group of members continue to work on programming and events to serve current members and attract new ones. Cooper articulated what drives these women to remain committed:
Having a women’s bar organization aligns with this initiative and facilitates networking and mentoring. Mentoring goes both ways, and I continue to learn a lot from those much younger than me. WVWA is still feeling growing pains, particularly with converting Facebook group members to organization members. While the Facebook group had hundreds of members, our paid membership has remained steady at 50 to 55 members from our first membership year and into our second. Nonetheless, we are committed to pressing on. Our first board elections were in May 2019, and we are excited to have a new crop of women leaders to carry us forward.
WVWA welcomes as prospective members all lawyers who are active members of the West Virginia State Bar in good standing (as voting members) as well as all inactive members of the West Virginia State Bar in good standing and current law students (as non-voting members), regardless of gender. We welcome you to visit our website, http://www.wvwomenattorneys.org, to learn more about our growing organization.
WISCONSIN
A HISTORY OF WOMEN LAWYERS IN WISCONSIN
W e cannot but think the common law wise in excluding women from the practice of the law … The law of nature destines and qualifies the female sex for the bearing and nurture of the children of our race and for the custody of the homes of the world and their maintenance in love and honor. And all lifelong callings of women, inconsistent with these radical and sacred duties of their sex, as is the profession of the law, are departures from the order of nature; and when voluntary, treason against it …
Rhoda Lavinia Goodell had to read this language in Chief Justice Edward Ryan’s decision denying her motion for admission to the Bar of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1876. She had started the study of law three years earlier in Janesville, Wisconsin, working in the firm of Jackson and Norcross. She had been admitted to the local circuit court bar in 1874 and engaged in a general litigation practice. She became interested in jail reform and related legislation. When one of her cases was appealed to the state Supreme Court, she petitioned for admission. Although this was routinely granted after admission to a circuit court bar, Ryan saw no reason to follow precedent in the case of a woman. Undeterred, Goodell took the issue to the Legislature. In 1877, a law was enacted prohibiting denial of admission on the basis of gender. Her second petition for admission was granted in 1879 over Ryan’s dissent. She won a criminal case before the Supreme Court in March 1880 and died three weeks later of ovarian cancer.
Prior to her death, Goodell had entered into a partnership with Angela Josephine King, forming the firm of Goodell and King in Janesville. King had also been admitted to the bar in 1879. King pursued a law career after being denied the position of Janesville postmaster. She won the local election, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to make the appointment without the endorsement of the district’s congressman, Benjamin Hopkins, who found himself unable to endorse a woman. King practiced law until her death in 1913.
While Goodell and King were fighting for admission in 1879, Belle Case was graduating from the University of Wisconsin (UW). She married Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette in 1881 and clerked for him in the Dane County district attorney’s office. She entered UW Law School and became the first woman graduate in 1885. She never practiced law but worked with her husband through his terms in Congress and as Wisconsin governor. They founded La Follette’s Weekly Magazine, now The Progressive. She helped found the Women’s Peace Party, now the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
In 1935, Wisconsin reached the milestone of 100 women admitted to the bar, and it took only eight more years to reach the 150 mark. The first black woman to receive her law degree from UW was Vel Phillips, a 1950 graduate. She devoted her career to public service, becoming the first woman and first African- American elected to the Milwaukee Common Council in 1956, the first woman judge in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court and first African-American judge in Wisconsin in 1971, and the first woman and African- American elected Wisconsin secretary of state in 1978. Commenting on the attitudes she faced, she said, “every now and then they would forget my color, but they never forgot my gender.”
Wisconsin first saw a woman on the state Supreme Court when Shirley Abrahamson was appointed in 1976. She was elected in 1979 and reelected in 1989, 1999, and 2009. A New Yorker by birth and accent, she came to Wisconsin for law school, graduating from UW in 1962. She served as the lone woman on the court for 17 years and became chief justice in 1996, a position she held until 2015. In 2004, she was given the inaugural Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence from the American Judicature Society. She also received the Margaret Brent Award from the American Bar Association. Abrahamson will retire from the court at the end of her current term.
In Wisconsin, as was true throughout the country, women entered law school and the practice of law in larger and larger numbers in the 1970s. That decade saw the formation of the first women’s bar organization in Wisconsin, the Lawyer’s Association for Women of Greater Milwaukee. The organization struggled as there were few women in practice, and at that time, there was a concern that association with a women’s group might not be beneficial to one’s career. A small group soldiered on and in 1981 held the first Women Judges’ Night. There were few women judges to honor, but one of them, Abrahamson, agreed to come to Milwaukee and be the keynote speaker. That turning point revived the organization, now the Association of Women Lawyers with nearly 400 members. One of the highlights of the legal year is the annual Judges’ Night. Now the list of honored judges runs pages in the program, starting with six of the seven justices on the state Supreme Court.
The 1980s saw a young gay woman, newly elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, start law school. Graduating in 1989, Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay woman elected to the Wisconsin Assembly. Baldwin kept going, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1998. The next step was beating former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson for the U.S. Senate in 2012, and she was reelected in the tumultuous election of 2018.
