List of first women lawyers and judges in Rhode Island

This is a list of the first women lawyers and judges in Rhode Island. 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 argue a case before the Rhode Island Supreme Court: Mary Ann Greene (1888; Massachusetts) in 1907
First female: Ada Lewis Sawyer (1920)
First African American female: Dorothy Crockett (1932)

Law Clerk

First female to clerk for Rhode Island's federal courts: Sandra L. Lynch (1971)

State judges

First female: Florence K. Murray (1942) in 1956
First female (district court): Corinne P. Grande in 1969
First female (Chief Justice; Rhode Island Superior Court): Florence K. Murray (1942) from 1978-1979
First female (Rhode Island Supreme Court): Florence K. Murray (1942) from 1979-1996
First Jewish American female (Rhode Island Supreme Court): Victoria Lederberg in 1993
First openly lesbian female: Melissa Dubose in 2019
First African American (female) (Rhode Island Supreme Court): Melissa A. Long in 2021
First Asian American (female) (superior court): Linda Rekas Sloan in 2021
First Latino American female (Rhode Island Family Court): Elizabeth Ortiz in 2021
First Indian American (female) (Rhode Island Family Court): Shilpa Naik in 2022

Federal judges

First African American female (U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit): Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson (1976) in 2010
First female (United States Magistrate Judge; United States District Court, District of Rhode Island): Patricia Sullivan in 2012
First African American and LGBT [female] (United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island): Melissa R. DuBose in 2024

Attorney General of Rhode Island

First female: Arlene Violet (1974) in 1985

Deputy Attorney General

First female: Susan E. McGuirl

United States Attorney

First female: Margaret E. Curran (1983) from 1998-2003

Public Defender

First female: Mary S. McElroy in 2012

Rhode Island Bar Association

First female president: Beverly Glen Long from 1981-1982
First Jewish American female president: Susan DeBlasio in 1989
First African American (female): Jametta Alston in 2004

Political offices

First female (senator): Florence K. Murray (1942)
First openly lesbian female (Rhode Island Senate; Fifteenth District): Donna Nesselbush (c. 1991) in 2011

Firsts in local history

Angelyne Cooper: First African American (female) to serve as a municipal court judge in Cranston, Providence County, Rhode Island (2021)
Elizabeth Ortiz: First Latino American female to serve as a municipal court judge in Central Falls (2019) [<nowiki/>Providence County, Rhode Island]
Debra L. Chernick: First female President of the Washington County Bar Association, Rhode Island (2000-2004)

References