List of first women lawyers and judges in Maine

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

Law School

First female law graduate: Velma Peabody in 1938

Lawyers

First female: Clara Hapgood Nash (1872)
First female (employed by Maine legislature): Gail Laughlin in 1913
First female to argue case before Law Court: Alice Parker in 1932
First female prosecutor: Suzanne E.K. Smith in 1972
First Penobscot female: Jill E. Tompkins (1989)
First Passamaquoddy female: Tina M. Farrenkopf (1997)
First Wabanaki female: Sherri Mitchell:

State judges

First female (district court): Harriet Henry in 1973
First female (superior court): Jessie Briggs Gunther in 1976
First female (law court Maine Supreme Judicial Court): Caroline Duby Glassman in 1983 for the latter court
First female (Chief Justice; Maine Supreme Judicial Court): Leigh Saufley in 2001

Federal judges

First female (federal judge): Margaret Ã¢ÂÂPeggyÃ¢ÂÂ Kravchuk
First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Maine): Nancy Torresen (1987) in 2011

Attorney General of Maine

First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2008

Deputy Attorney General

First female (Chief Deputy Attorney General of Maine): Vendean Vafiades

District Attorney

First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 1980

Political Office

First female (Governor of Maine): Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2018
First Latino American female (Deputy Secretary of State for Maine): Joann Bautista in 2021

United States Attorney

First female (interim): Paula D. Silsby in 2001
First female (permanent): Darcie N. McElwee in 2021

Maine State Bar Association

First female president: Phyllis Givertz (1974) in 1983
First Asian American (female) president: Susan Faunce in 2025

Firsts in local history

Janet Mills (c. 1976): First female to serve as a District Attorney in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties, Maine (1980)
Natasha Irving: First female District Attorney for Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo Counties, Maine (2019)
Jessie Briggs Gunther: First female to serve as a Judge of the Androscoggin County Superior Court, Maine
Adeline Bond Rines (1914): First female lawyer in Cumberland County, Maine
Sigrid E. Tompkins: First female to serve as the President of the Cumberland County Bar Association, Maine (1974)
Stephanie Anderson: First female District Attorney for Cumberland County, Maine
Paula Sawyer: First female to graduate from the University of Maine School of Law (1968) [<nowiki/>Cumberland County, Maine]
Agnes Robinson (1900): First female lawyer in Franklin County, Maine
Iola S. Kearney (1920): First female lawyer in Augusta, Maine [Kennebec County, Maine<nowiki>]</nowiki>
Shirley Cogswell: First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Pleasant Point Ã¢ÂÂ Passamaquoddy Tribal Court (1980) [<nowiki/>Washington County, Maine]

References