This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in North America (a separate list is devoted to the United States). It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the first women in their country to achieve a certain distinction such as graduating from law school.
KEY DNK = Constituent country of Denmark FRA = Administrative division of France GBR = British overseas territory of the United Kingdom NLD = Constituent country of the Netherlands USA = Associate state or territory of the United States of America
Anguilla See Women in law in the United Kingdom
Antigua and Barbuda Florence Lake (1960): First female lawyer in Antigua and BarbudaMonica Theresa Joseph: First female appointed as a Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (1982)Bernice Lake (1969): First female to become a Queen's Counsel (QC) in the Eastern Caribbean (Antigua; 1987)E. Ann Henry: First female to serve as the President of the Antigua and Barbuda Bar Association (c. 1996)Gertel Thom (1982): First female lawyer to become Attorney-General of Antigua and Barbuda (1998-2001)Charmaine Pemberton: First (female) Master of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (2000)Pemberton was resident in Saint Lucia, but had assignments in Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with short stints in Saint Kitts and Nevis (then named Saint Christopher) and Antigua and Barbuda. She was elevated to High Court Judge in 2003. Nicole Sylvester: First female to serve as the President of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Association (c. 2007)Ola Mae Edwards, Janice Pereira (née George–Creque), and Indra Hariprashad-Charles: First female Court of Appeal Coram in Antigua and Barbuda (2008)Janice Pereira (British Virgin Islands, 1981): First female (and British Virgin Islander) justice appointed as the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (2012)Nicola Petra Byer: First (female) Presiding Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court’s Family Division (High Court of Antigua and Barbuda, 2022)
Aruba (NLD)
Dorothée de Sampayo: First female Magistrate of the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles (1982-1986). She later became the first female Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. [Aruba] Carla Bakhuis-Vinck: First female appointed as a Judge of the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles (1987) Theresa Croes-Fernandes Pedra: First Aruban (female) to serve as a Judge of the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (1995) Helen Lejuez: First female prosecutor in Aruba, as well as the first female to serve as the Acting Attorney General of Aruba Lisbeth Hoefdraad: First female appointed as the President of the Common Court of Justice of the Antilles and Aruba (2007-2013) [now called the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba] Gisèle Veen-Jonkhout: First female Public Prosecutor of the Netherlands Antilles (2010) : First female elected as the Dean of the Aruban Bar Association Jurima Bryson: First (female) Ombudsman for Aruba (2024) Jane Jansen: First Aruban female to serve as the Vice-President of the Court of First Instance of Aruba (2025)
Bahamas
Patricia Cole Cozzi (1953): First female lawyer in The Bahamas Stephanie Unwala: First female magistrate in The Bahamas (1977) Janet Bostwick (1971): First female lawyer to become the Attorney General of The Bahamas (1995-2001). She was also the first female to serve as the President of The Bahamas Bar Association (1980). Joan Sawyer (1973): First female judge in The Bahamas (upon her appointment to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas in 1988). She was also the first female justice appointed as the Chief Justice of The Bahamas (1996-2001) and the President of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas (2001-2010). Allyson Maynard Gibson:"Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Brave Davis and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson appointed Queen’s Councils by the GG!" , Bahamas Press, 6 January 2015.Diane Phillips, "Country’s Oldest Law Office, Callenders 1st Firm to Have Three QC’s", TheBahamasWeekly.com, 8 January 2015. First female Queen's Counsel (QC) in The Bahamas (2015) Marisa Mason-Smith: First (female) Ombudsman for The Bahamas (2019)
Barbados
Marie Elizabeth Bourne-Hollands (1947): First female to practice law in Barbados Norma E. Maynard-Marshall (1962): First female solicitor in Barbados Billie Miller (1969):Keith A. P. Sandiford, A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora, Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 308. First female barrister in Barbados Sandra Mason (1975): First Barbadian woman admitted to the Barbados Bar Association. In 1978, she became the first female appointed as a magistrate in Barbados. She was the first female appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal (2008), as well as the first female magistrate appointed as an Ambassador from Barbados. Shirley Bell (1972): First female to serve as a Chief Magistrate in Barbados (1991) Marie McCormack (1971): First female judge (1992) and Judge of the High Court (1995) in Barbados Beverley Walrond (1974): First female to serve as the President of the Barbados Bar Association Kaye Goodridge: First female to serve as the Solicitor General of Barbados (1996) Mia Mottley (1986): First female appointed as the Attorney General of Barbados (2001) Donna Babb-Agard: First female appointed as deputy director of Public Prosecutions in Barbados (2005)
Belize
Hadie Goldson: First female lawyer in Belize Zoila Ellis-Browne: First Garifuna female lawyer in Belize Marie Henry Anderson: First (female) magistrate of the Belize Family Court (1990) Michelle Arana: First female judge in Belize (upon becoming a Judge of the Supreme Court of Belize in 2006) Margaret Gabb-McKenzie: First female to serve as the Chief Magistrate of Belize (2007) Monica Coc Magnusson: First indigenous (Qʼeqchiʼ) female from southern Belize called to the Belize Bar Association Vanessa Retreage: First female appointed as the Attorney General of Belize (2015) Lisa Shoman (1988): First female appointed as a Judge of the Inter-American Development Bank's Tribunal (2017). She was also the first female to serve as the President of the Bar Association of Belize (1996). Minnet Hafiz-Bertram: First female to serve as a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Belize (2013) and its Acting Chief Justice (2020) Louise Blenman: First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize (2022)
Bermuda (GBR) See Women in law in the United Kingdom
Bonaire (NLD)
Dorothée de Sampayo: First female Magistrate of the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles (1982-1986). She later became the first female Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. [Bonaire] Carla Bakhuis-Vinck: First female appointed as a Judge of the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles (1987) Lisbeth Hoefdraad: First female appointed as the President of the Common Court of Justice of the Antilles and Aruba (2007-2013) [now called the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba] Marga Domingo-Van Lieshout (2006): First female registered to practice law in the Order of Lawyers Bonaire (Orde van Advocaten van Bonaire; founded in 2004) Gisèle Veen-Jonkhout: First female Public Prosecutor of the Netherlands Antilles (2010) Marian Veneberg: First female to serve as the Chief Prosecutor of the BES islands (Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius) (2021) Eline Groenendaal: First (female) criminal judge in Bonaire (2023)
British Virgin Islands (GBR) See Women in law in the United Kingdom
Canada See Women in law in Canada
Cayman Islands (GBR) See Women in law in the United Kingdom
Costa Rica
Ángela Acuña Braun (c. 1925): First female lawyer in Costa Rica Virginia Martén Pagés: First female lawyer to obtain the title of notary public in Costa Rica (1947) Ofelia Vincenzi Peñaranda: First female to serve as a juvenile public defender in Costa Rica María Eugenia Vargas Solera: First female judge in Costa Rica (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Juvenile Protection of Costa Rica in 1956) Marcelina Zeledón: First female mayoral judge in Costa Rica (1968) Ana María Breedy Jalet: First female to serve as an Alternate Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (1975), as well as the first female to preside over the Full Court Dora María Guzmán Zanetti: First female to serve as a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (1984) Sonia Picado Sotela: First (Costa Rican) female to serve as a Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (1989) Ana Virginia Calzada-Miranda: First female to serve as a magistrate of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (1993) and its President (2008) Maruja Chacón Pacheco: First female magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Court of Costa Rica (1997) Anabelle León Feoli: First female justice appointed to the Presidency of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (2003) Elizabeth Odio Benito: First Costa Rican female to serve as a Judge of the International Criminal Court (2003) Éricka Hernández Sandoval: First female to serve as the President of the Costa Rican Bar Association (2009) Zarela Villanueva Monge (c. 1970s): First female Vice President (2010) and President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (2013) Doris Arias Madrigal: First female justice appointed to the Presidency of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (2017) Emilia Navas: First female appointed as the Attorney General of Costa Rica (2018)
Cuba
Francisca Rojas de Astudillo: First female law graduate in Cuba (1886) Esperanza de Quesada Villalón (c. 1913): First female lawyer in Cuba Ofelia Domínguez Navarro: First female notary in Cuba (1922) Maria T. Ruiz y Rojas: First female judge in Cuba (c. 1926) Ángela Mariana Zaldívar Peyrellade: First female prosecutor in Cuba (1926) Rosa Anders: First female appointed as a Public Defender in Cuba Sara Esther Fernández Concepción and Maria del Carmen Herrero Rodriguez: First females to serve as Judges of the People's Supreme Court of Cuba (1973) Zenaida Osorio Vizcaino: First female to serve as the Vice President of the People's Supreme Court of Cuba (c. 1998) Yamila Peña Ojeda: First female to serve as the Attorney General of Cuba (2018)
Curaçao (NLD)
Viola Antonia Geevers-Hollander (1946): First female lawyer in Curaçao Carla Bakhuis-Vinck: First Antillean female (Curaçao) appointed as a Judge of the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles (1987) Adèle Pauline van der Pluijm-Vrede: First female to act as a civil-law notary in Curaçao (1994) Lisbeth Hoefdraad: First female appointed as the President of the Common Court of Justice of the Antilles and Aruba (2007-2013) [now called the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba] Alba Maria-Teresa Martijn: First female to serve as Ombudsman for Curaçao (2009) Gisèle Veen-Jonkhout: First female to serve as a prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Curaçao (2010)
Dominica
Mary Eugenia Charles (1949): First female lawyer in Dominica. She later served as the President of the Dominica Bar Association during the 1970s, and may have been the first female to do so. Sylvia Judith Bertrand (1969): First female to serve as the Solicitor General of Dominica (1982) Monica Theresa Joseph: First female judge in Dominica (upon her appointment as a Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 1982) Charmaine Pemberton: First (female) Master of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (2000) Francine Baron Royer: First female to serve as the Attorney General of Dominica (2007)