List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Hawaii. 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.

Firsts in Hawaii's history

Law School

First Hawaiian Nisei female law graduate: Patsy Mink (1953) in 1951

Lawyers

First female (prior to overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii): Almeda Eliza Hitchcock (1888)
First female (sign the Ã¢ÂÂRoll of AttorneysÃ¢ÂÂ for the federal district court): Elizabeth Helena Ryan (1896) in 1900
First female (practicing in the Territory of Hawaii): Marguerite Kamehaokalani Ashford (1916)
First Asian American female: Sau Ung Loo Chan (1942)
First Japanese American female: Patsy Mink (1953)
First Samoan-born female: Saisamoa F. Grey Price (2017)

State judges

First female (Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Kingdom): Miriam KekÃÂuluohi in 1840
First female (Commissioner of Private Ways and Water Rights): Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina from 1892-1907
First female (Hawaii Supreme Court): Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1935
First female (district magistrate): Edna Jenkins in 1937
First female: Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1934
First Asian American female: Marybeth Yuen Maul circa 1957
First female (appointed; Supreme Court of Hawaii): Rhoda Valentine Lewis (c. 1929) in 1959
First female (family court): Betty Vitousek in 1970
First female (circuit court): Marie Milks in 1984
First African American female: Sandra A. Simms in 1991
First female (Second Circuit Court): Harriette L. Holt in 1990
First openly lesbian female (Hawaii Supreme Court): Sabrina McKenna (1982) in 2011
First female of Native Hawaiian descent (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals): Sonja McCullen in 2021

Federal judges

First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii): Helen W. Gillmor in 1994
First Asian American female (U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii): Susan Oki Mollway (1981) in 1998
First Native Hawaiian female (United States District Court for the District of Hawaii): Shanlyn A. S. Park in 2023

Attorney General of Hawaii

First female (partial term): Corinne K.A. Watanabe (1974) from 1985-1987
First female (full term): Margery Bronster (1982) from 1995-1999

United States Attorney

First female: Florence T. Nakakuni in 2009

Assistant United States Attorney

First female: Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1925

Political Office

First Asian-born (Japanese descent) female (senator): Mazie Hirono (1978) in 2012

Hawaii Bar Association

First female president: Sherry Broder (1975)

Firsts in local history

Carrick Hume Buck (1921): First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney and Deputy City and County Attorney for Honolulu City-County, Hawaii (1925)
Jean Vaughan Gilbert (1944): First female to serve as the Honolulu City-County Attorney
Camille A. Nelson: First (African American) female to serve as the Dean of the University of HawaiiÃ¢ÂÂs William S. Richardson School of Law (2020)
Edna Jenkins: First female to serve as the district magistrate for Makawao, Hawaii (1937) [<nowiki/>Maui County, Hawaii]
Linda Breslau Berg: First female lawyer in Maui [<nowiki/>Maui County, Hawaii]

References