List of first women lawyers and judges in Oklahoma

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

Lawyers

First female to pass the Oklahoma Territory Bar: Minerva K. Elliott Lentz (1893)
First (half-Shawnee) female: Laura Lykins (1898)
First female from Oklahoma admitted before the U.S. Supreme Court: Ethel Maude Proffit Stephenson

Law Clerk

First (Native American-Chickasaw Nation) female to clerk for the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Criminal Court of Appeals: Jessie Elizabeth Randolph Moore in 1926

State judges

First female (judicial officer): Faye L. Roblin in 1921
First female: Grace Elmore Gibson in 1930
First female (Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals): Patricia MacGuigan in 1982
First female (Oklahoma Supreme Court): Alma Wilson (1941) in 1982
First African American female: Susan Bragg in 1985
First female (Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals): Rita M. Strubhar in 1993
First female (Chief Justice; Oklahoma Supreme Court): Alma Wilson (1941) in 1995
First Asian American (female): Cindy Truong in 2010

Federal judges

First female (United States Magistrate Judge in the six-state Tenth Circuit): Robin Cauthron in 1991
First African American female (U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma): Vicki Miles-LaGrange (1977) in 1994
First female (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma): Claire Eagan in 2001
First female (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma): Kimberly E. West
First African American female (Chief Judge; U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma): Vicki Miles-LaGrange (1977) in 2008
First Native American female [<nowiki/>Cherokee] (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma): Sara E. Hill in 2023

Attorney General of Oklahoma

First female: Susan B. Loving from 1991-1995

Assistant Attorney General

First female: Kathryn Van Leuven from 1922-1928

United States Attorney

First (African American) female (Western District of Oklahoma): Vicki Miles-LaGrange (1977) in 1993
First female hired (Western District of Oklahoma): Susie Pritchett

County Attorney (abolished office)

First female: Amelia Patterson Frye

Assistant County Attorney (abolished office)

First female: Margaret Lamm

District Attorney

First female: Kay Huff in 1978
First Native American (female): Dianne Baker Harrold

Political Office

First openly lesbian female (Oklahoma House of Representatives): Kay Floyd in 2012

Oklahoma Bar Association

First female vice-president: Jayne Montgomery in 1978
First female president: Mona Salyer Lambird from 1990-1991

Firsts in local history

Irma J. Newburn: First female (and African American female) district judge in Western Oklahoma
Kay Huff: First female to serve as a District Attorney for Cleveland, Garvin and McClain Counties, Oklahoma (1978)
Kalyn Free: First Native American (female) to serve as the District Attorney for Haskell and Pittsburg Counties, Oklahoma
Laura Austin Thomas: First female District Attorney for Logan and Payne Counties, Oklahoma (2014)
Bernice Dona Berry Beckham: First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Reta Strubhar: First female to serve as a Judge of the District Court of Canadian County, Oklahoma (1984)
Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher: First African American female admitted to the University of Oklahoma College of Law (1948)
Bernice Dona Berry Beckham: First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Lisa Shaw: First female to become an Associate District Judge in Comanche County, Oklahoma (2014)
Susie Pritchett: First female elected as a judge in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma
Bernice Dona Berry Beckham: First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Elizabeth Kerr: First female to serve as a judge in Edmond, Oklahoma [Oklahoma County, Oklahoma]
Susie Pritchett: First female lawyer hired by Oklahoma County's Public Defender's Office
Maxey Reilly: First female judge in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma (2017)
Vicki Behenna: First female to serve as the District Attorney for Oklahoma County, Oklahoma (2022)
Freddie "Fred" Andrews: First female judge in Pontomac County, Oklahoma
Bernice Dona Berry Beckham: First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Wilma Palmer: First African American female to serve as a Judge of the Tulsa County District Court, Oklahoma (2007)
Chloe Eunice Passly Dilday: First female judge in Washington County, Oklahoma

References