This list of the first women lawyers and judges in each state of the United States includes the years in which the women were admitted to practice law. Also included are women of other distinctions, such as the first in their states to graduate from law school.
Firsts nationwide
Law school See Law school in the United States
Lawyers See Women in law
Lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court See Women in law
Law clerks
First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals: Carmel “Kim” Prashker Ebb in 1945 First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit: Doris Gray First African American female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: Janene D. Jackson See also Lists of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
State judges See Women in the United States judiciary
Federal judges See Women in the United States judiciary
Attorneys General of the U.S. See United States Attorney General
Deputy Attorney General of the U.S.
First female: Carol E. Dinkins (1971) in 1984
Associate Attorney General of the U.S.
First female: Rachel Brand from 2017-2018 First Asian American female: Vanita Gupta in 2021
Solicitor General of the U.S. First female (acting): Barbara Underwood (1969) in 2001 First female: Elena Kagan (1986) from 2009-2010
Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.
First (African American) female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) in 1973
Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.
First females: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) and Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1917) from 1920-1921 and 1921-1929 respectively First Asian American female: Rose Ochi in 1997
State Attorneys General
First female: Anne X. Alpern (1927) in 1959 First female (elected): Arlene Violet (1974) in 1985Rutgers, Center for American Women And Politics (accessed 5/23/2007) First Mexican American female: Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1999 First African American female: Pamela Carter in 1993 First Asian American (female): Kamala Harris (1989) from 2011-2017 First openly lesbian female: Maura Healey (1998) in 2015
State Solicitor General
First Muslim Arab American (female): Fadwa Hammoud in 2019
United States Attorney
First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1918-1920 First female to serve a full-term: Virginia Dill McCarty (1977) from 1977-1981 First openly lesbian female: Jenny Durkan (1986) in 2009 First Asian American female: Debra Wong Yang (1986) from 2002-2006 First Native American (Hopi) female: Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2007 First Muslim (female): Saima Mohsin in 2021
Assistant United States Attorney
First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1914-1918 First African American female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) from 1955-1958 First known quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill in 1995
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney
First female: Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston (1904) in 1906
State Assistant Attorney General
First female: Ella Knowles Haskell (1888) in 1893 First African American female: Helen Elsie Austin (1930) in 1937
State District Attorneys
First female: Edna C. Plummer (1907) in 1918 First African American female: Anne Elise Thompson in 1975 First openly lesbian female: Bonnie Dumanis (1977) in 2002 First Dominican American (female): Camelia Valdes in 2009 First Korean American (female): Grace H. Park in 2013 First Puerto Rican female: Deborah González in 2020
State Deputy District Attorney
First female: Clara Shortridge Foltz (1878) in 1910
Federal Bar Associations
First (African American) female to co-found a coed national bar association: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1925 First female president (Federal Bar Association): Marguerite Rawalt in 1943 First Asian American (female) president (Federal Bar Association): Anh Le Kremer First female vice-president (National Bar Association): Georgia Jones Ellis in 1929 First female president (National Bar Association): Arnette Hubbard in 1981 First Jewish female admitted (American Bar Association): Clarice Baright (1905) in 1919 First African American female president (National Association of Women Lawyers): Mahala Ashley Dickerson in 1983 See also List of presidents of the American Bar Association
State Bar Association First (African American) female to lead coed state bar: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1921Rush became the President of the Iowa Colored Bar Association in 1921. First female president of voluntary state bar: Carole Bellows in 1977Bellows was the President of the Illinois State Bar Association which is considered a voluntary bar association. First female president of mandatory/integrated state bar: Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980Willard-Jones was the President of the Alaska Bar Association, which is considered a unified state bar (mandatory/integrated). First open lesbian to serve as president of a statewide bar association: Joan Ellenbogen in 1980 First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002 First Korean American female president: Esther H. Lim in 2018 First South Asian female president: Sunitha Anjilvel in 2024
Firsts in individual states
List of first women lawyers and judges in Alabama List of first women lawyers and judges in Alaska List of first women lawyers and judges in Arizona List of first women lawyers and judges in Arkansas List of first women lawyers and judges in California List of first women lawyers and judges in Colorado List of first women lawyers and judges in Connecticut List of first women lawyers and judges in Delaware List of first women lawyers and judges in Florida List of first women lawyers and judges in Georgia List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii List of first women lawyers and judges in Idaho List of first women lawyers and judges in Illinois List of first women lawyers and judges in Indiana List of first women lawyers and judges in Iowa List of first women lawyers and judges in Kansas List of first women lawyers and judges in Kentucky List of first women lawyers and judges in Louisiana List of first women lawyers and judges in Maine List of first women lawyers and judges in Maryland List of first women lawyers and judges in Massachusetts List of first women lawyers and judges in Michigan List of first women lawyers and judges in Minnesota List of first women lawyers and judges in Mississippi List of first women lawyers and judges in Missouri List of first women lawyers and judges in Montana List of first women lawyers and judges in Nebraska List of first women lawyers and judges in Nevada List of first women lawyers and judges in New Hampshire List of first women lawyers and judges in New Jersey List of first women lawyers and judges in New Mexico List of first women lawyers and judges in New York List of first women lawyers and judges in North Carolina List of first women lawyers and judges in North Dakota List of first women lawyers and judges in Ohio List of first women lawyers and judges in Oklahoma List of first women lawyers and judges in Oregon List of first women lawyers and judges in Pennsylvania List of first women lawyers and judges in Rhode Island List of first women lawyers and judges in South Carolina List of first women lawyers and judges in South Dakota List of first women lawyers and judges in Tennessee List of first women lawyers and judges in Texas List of first women lawyers and judges in Utah List of first women lawyers and judges in Vermont List of first women lawyers and judges in Virginia List of first women lawyers and judges in Washington List of first women lawyers and judges in West Virginia List of first women lawyers and judges in Wisconsin List of first women lawyers and judges in Wyoming
Firsts in Washington, D.C.
List of first women lawyers and judges in Washington D.C.
Firsts in the U.S. territories
List of first women lawyers and judges in U.S. territories
See also List of the first women holders of political offices in the United States Timeline of women lawyers in the United States Women in law
Other topics of interest List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States List of African American jurists List of Asian American jurists List of first women lawyers and judges by nationality (international) List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists List of Jewish American jurists List of LGBT jurists in the United States List of Native American jurists
References