List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States

This list of the first women lawyers and judges in each state of the United States includes the years in which the women were admitted to practice law. Also included are women of other distinctions, such as the first in their states to graduate from law school.

Firsts nationwide

Law school

See Law school in the United States

Lawyers

First female to act as an attorney: Margaret Brent in 1648
First female without a formal legal education admitted to state bar: Arabella Mansfield (1869)
First African American female: Charlotte E. Ray (1872)
First Russian female: Alice Serber (1899)
First Native American (Wyandot) female: (1902)
First blind female: Christine la Barraque (c. 1906)
First female admitted to argue cases before a U.S. Court of Appeals: Helen R. Carloss (c. 1923)
First Armenian American female: Norma M. Karaian
First Japanese American female: Elizabeth K. Ohi (1937)
First female prosecutor (international military tribunal): Grace Kanode Llewellyn (1931) in 1945
First Chinese American female: Emma Ping Lum (1947)
First Filipino American female: Ruby Carpio Bell (1964)
First openly lesbian: Renee C. Hanover (1969)
First Navajo female: Claudeen Arthur (1970)
First African American female lawyer in the U.S. Coast Guard: Cheryl Avery in 1976
First female solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor: Carin Clauss (1963) in 1977
First quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill (1995)
First deaf African American female: Claudia L. Gordon (c. 2000)
First Marshallese female: Arsima A. Muller (2005)
First Qatari female admitted to practice law in the U.S.: Farah Abdulrahman Al-Muftah (2011)
First Air Force JAG Corps female officer permitted to wear hijab: Maysaa Ouza (2018)
First deaf Pakistani-American and Muslim female: Nida Din (2020)

Lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court

First female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Belva Ann Lockwood (1873) in 1880
First Native American (Wyandot) female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Lyda Conley (1902) in 1909
First African-American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court: Violette Neatley Anderson in 1926
First African American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Constance Baker Motley (1946) in 1954
First lesbian to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Pearl M. Hart in 1957
First Asian American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Emma Ping Lum (1947) around 1958
First Latino American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Vilma Socorro MartÃÂnez (1967) in 1977
First Native American (Lumbee) female to win a U.S. Supreme Court case: Arlinda Locklear (1976) in 1983
First female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981
First Muslim Arab American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Fadwa Hammoud in 2021

Law clerks

First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals: Carmel Ã¢ÂÂKimÃ¢ÂÂ Prashker Ebb in 1945
First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit: Doris Gray
First African American female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: Janene D. Jackson

Deputy Attorney General of the U.S.

First female: Carol E. Dinkins (1971) in 1984

Associate Attorney General of the U.S.

First female: Rachel Brand from 2017-2018
First Asian American female: Vanita Gupta in 2021

Solicitor General of the U.S.

First female (acting): Barbara Underwood (1969) in 2001
First female: Elena Kagan (1986) from 2009-2010

Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.

First (African American) female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) in 1973

Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.

First females: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) and Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1917) from 1920-1921 and 1921-1929 respectively
First Asian American female: Rose Ochi in 1997

State Attorneys General

First female: Anne X. Alpern (1927) in 1959
First female (elected): Arlene Violet (1974) in 1985
First Mexican American female: Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1999
First African American female: Pamela Carter in 1993
First Asian American (female): Kamala Harris (1989) from 2011-2017
First openly lesbian female: Maura Healey (1998) in 2015

State Solicitor General

First Muslim Arab American (female): Fadwa Hammoud in 2019

United States Attorney

First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1918-1920
First female to serve a full-term: Virginia Dill McCarty (1977) from 1977-1981
First openly lesbian female: Jenny Durkan (1986) in 2009
First Asian American female: Debra Wong Yang (1986) from 2002-2006
First Native American (Hopi) female (1993) in 2007
First Muslim (female): Saima Mohsin in 2021

Assistant United States Attorney

First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1914-1918
First African American female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) from 1955-1958
First known quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill in 1995

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

First female: Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston (1904) in 1906

State Assistant Attorney General

First female: Ella Knowles Haskell (1888) in 1893
First African American female: Helen Elsie Austin (1930) in 1937

State District Attorneys

First female: Edna C. Plummer (1907) in 1918
First African American female: Anne Elise Thompson in 1975
First openly lesbian female: Bonnie Dumanis (1977) in 2002
First Dominican American (female): Camelia Valdes in 2009
First Korean American (female): Grace H. Park in 2013
First Puerto Rican female: Deborah GonzÃÂ¡lez in 2020

State Deputy District Attorney

First female: Clara Shortridge Foltz (1878) in 1910

Federal Bar Associations

First (African American) female to co-found a coed national bar association: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1925
First female president (Federal Bar Association ): Marguerite Rawalt in 1943
First Asian American (female) president (Federal Bar Association): Anh Le Kremer
First female president (National Bar Association): Arnette Hubbard in 1981
First Jewish female admitted (American Bar Association): Clarice Baright (1905) in 1919
First African American female president (National Association of Women Lawyers): Mahala Ashley Dickerson in 1983

State Bar Association

First (African American) female to lead coed state bar: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1921
First female president of voluntary state bar: Carole Bellows in 1977
First female president of mandatory/integrated state bar: Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980
First open lesbian to serve as president of a statewide bar association: Joan Ellenbogen in 1980
First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002
First Korean American female president: Esther H. Lim in 2018
First South Asian female president: Sunitha Anjilvel in 2024

Firsts in individual states

Firsts in Washington, D.C.

List of first women lawyers and judges in Washington D.C.

Firsts in the U.S. territories

List of first women lawyers and judges in U.S. territories

References