Cue the Confetti: St. Mary’s Law School Women Are Leading Where Decisions Are Being Made By Sara Dysart Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. . . . It shouldn’t be that women are the exception. THE HONORABLE RUTH BADER GINSBURG
I
n 2020 and 2021, much has been written about the historic and ground-breaking achievements of women attaining positions of power at the national level. The trend is also reflected in state and local government, as well as in the private sector. Getting very close to home, in 2021, the women of St. Mary’s University School of Law have obliterated the glass ceiling. Fewer than 100 years after the school was founded, a woman sits in every leadership position.
A Brief History of St. Mary’s University School of Law The San Antonio Bar Association established the San Antonio School of Law in October 1927. On October 1, 1934, the Board of Governors of the San Antonio School of Law transferred control of the law school to St. Mary’s University. The newly created St. Mary’s University School of Law was housed at St. Mary’s University’s original downtown campus at 112 College Street. The American Bar Association accredited St. Mary’s University School of Law in February 1948, and the Association of American Law Schools accepted St. Mary’s University School of Law as a member in December 1949. On December 1, 1967, the law school was moved to St. Mary’s University’s campus on the west side of San Antonio, where faculty and students occupied the newly constructed Law Center, consisting of a lecture hall, law library, and faculty building. In 1984, the law library was converted to a faculty building and replaced by the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library. The original faculty building became the administrative building. In 2006, the lecture hall, now known as the law classroom building, underwent a $1 million renovation, to include a “courtroom” with technology tools commensurate with the Bexar County Courthouse. The courtroom seats 300 people and can be used in varying configurations to accommodate trial and appellate proceedings. Many moot court competitions have been held in the law classroom building, and at times, Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas, Justices of the Fourth Court of Appeals, or Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit have presided over those competitions. Over the years and throughout these changes, the heart of St. Mary’s University School of Law has been the people who work and study there. For more than eighty-five years, the women of St. Mary’s University School of Law made profound contributions to the law school and to the legal community. 22 San Antonio Lawyer® | sabar.org
[Back Row] Dean Patricia Robert, President of the Board of Visitors Sara Dysart, President of the Law Alumni Association Hon. Ana Lisa Garza, President of the Hispanic Law Alumni Association Hon. Angélica Jiménez-Espinoza, Law Chaplain Sister Grace M. Walle. [Front Row] Editor in Chief of St. Mary’s Law Journal Melissa Fulmer, Editor in Chief of The Scholar Candace Castillo, President of the Student Bar Association Crystal Andrade, Chair of the Board of Advocates Elizabeth Duggan.
Eighty-Five Years of Women Graduating and Leading The first woman law graduate was Mary Agnes Aird (J.D. ’36). From 1936 through 2020, 4,125 women have graduated from the law school. After Mary Aird forged the way, she was followed by steady incremental growth, and things got interesting in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when the number of women graduates shot up exponentially. From 1936 through 1945, there were 2 women law graduates; from 1946 through 1955, there were 8 women law graduates; from 1956 through 1965, there were 13 women law graduates; from 1966 through 1975, there were 77 women law graduates; from 1976 through 1985, there were 520 women law graduates; from 1986 through 1995, there were 871 women law graduates; from 1996 through 2005, there were 1,085 women law graduates; from 2006 through 2015, there were 1,041 women law
