List of first women lawyers and judges in Utah

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

Lawyers

First females: Phoebe Couzins and Cora Georgiana Snow Carleton (1872)
First female from Utah to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Agnes Swan around 1912
First female to practice before the U. S. District Court for the District of Utah: Beryl Bonner Meyers (1926)
First Asian American female: Eunice Chen (1973)
First Native American female: Mary Ellen Sloan (1975)
First Hispanic American female: Sheila K. McCleve (1977):
First African American female: Denise M. Mercherson (1979)

State judges

First female: Reva Beck Bosone (1930) in 1936
First female (Third Judicial District): Christine M. Durham (1978)
First female (Utah Supreme Court): Christine M. Durham (1978) in 1982
First Hispanic American female: Frances M. Palacios (1980) in 1992
First Hispanic American (female) (district court): Denise Posse-Blanco Lindberg in 1998
First African American female: Shauna Graves-Robertson (1990) in 1999
First female (Fourth Judicial District): Claudia Laycock in 2001
First female (Chief Justice; Utah Supreme Court): Christine M. Durham (1978) in 2002
First female (Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals): Carolyn B. McHugh (1982) in 2014
First openly LGBT (female): Camille Neider in 2017

Federal judges

First female (U.S. Bankruptcy Court): Judith Boulden (1974) in 1988
First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Utah): Tena Campbell (1977) in 1995
First Native American (female) (Magistrate; U.S. District Court for the District of Utah): Cecilia Romero in 2019

Attorney General

First female: Jan Graham (1980) from 1993 to 2001

United States Attorney

First Latino American female (Acting United States Attorney for the District of Utah): Andrea T. Martinez in 2021
First female (Presidentially-appointed United States Attorney for the District of Utah): Trina A. Higgins in 2022

Bar Associations

First female president (Utah State Bar): Pamela Greenwood (1972) in 1990
First minority (female) president (Utah State Bar): Angelina Tsu in 2015
First female president (Utah chapterÃ¢ÂÂFederal Bar Association): Christine Fitzgerald Soltis (1975)

Firsts in local history

Claudia Laycock: First female district court judge in Juab, Millard, Utah and Wasatch Counties, Utah (2001)
Christine M. Durham (1978): First female district court judge for Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele Counties, Utah (1978)
Cheryl Ann Russell (1976): First female lawyer in Logan, Utah [Cache County, Utah]
Reva Beck Bosone (1930): First female lawyer in Carbon County, Utah
Patricia Geary: First female to become the County Attorney for Emery County, Utah (c. 1992)
Rebekah W. Hornbein (c. 1915): First female law graduate from the University of Utah [Salt Lake County, Utah]
Margret Sidwell Taylor (1970): First female to work as a lawyer for the Public Defender's Office for Salt Lake County, Utah
Sheila K. McCleve (1977): First female to work as a full-time prosecutor in Salt Lake City, Utah
Patricia J. Marlowe (1973): First female to serve as the Deputy County Attorney for Salt Lake City, Utah [Salt Lake County, Utah]
Lisa Garner: First female to serve as a Judge of the Draper Justice Court (2022) [<nowiki/>Salt Lake and Utah Counties, Utah]
Elizabeth Kronk Warner: First (Native American) female to serve as the Dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law (2019)
Barbara G. Hjelle: First resident female lawyer in Washington County, Utah
Karla Staheli: First female judge in Fifth District Court serving Juvenile Court in Washington County, Utah

References