By Shirley Mays
Welcome to Women’s History Month! Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987. It started as a week-long celebration in 1980 the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March.
As a lawyer, I am intrigued by the evolution of women in the law. In 1638, Margaret Brent became the first female to practice law in colonial America when she was named the executor of the estate of Lord Calvert, who was the governor of the Maryland Colony. Records indicate Brent’s practice included more than 100 court cases in Maryland and Virginia.
Ada Harriet Miser Kepley was the first American woman to graduate from law school. She graduated in 1870 with a law degree, from what is today Northwestern University School of Law. Upon graduation, she was not able to practice due to a state court rule that denied women admittance to the bar.
Charlotte E. Ray was the first black American woman to graduate from law school. She was admitted to Howard because she applied under the name “C. E. Ray” to disguise the fact that she was a woman. She graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1872. She was also the first female admitted to the District of Columbia Bar, and the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.
Also in 1872, the United States Supreme Court affirmed a decision from the Supreme Court of Illinois that denied Myra Bradwell admission to the state bar. The state Supreme Court had reasoned that because state law invalidated any contract entered into by a married woman without the consent of her husband, women (most of whom would be married) could not adequately represent her clients. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, noting that even though some women might not actually be married, such women were the rare exceptions. The U.S. Supreme Court noted: “The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator. And the rules of civil society must be adapted to the general constitution of things and cannot be based upon exceptional cases.”
In 1910, Lyda Burton Conley became the first Native American female lawyer in America. She taught herself the law to protect her tribe’s cemetery burial land located in Huron Park Indian Cemetery from being sold. Unfortunately, she lost her case, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rehear it; however, Conley had raised enough public support through her efforts that the House of Representatives Indian Affairs committee finally banned desecration of the cemetery in 1912.
After earning her law degree from Stanford in 1952 and serving two terms in the Arizona state senate, Sandra Day O’Connor worked her way through the legal system as an attorney and ultimately a judge. Two years after winning election to the Arizona Court of Appeals, President Reagan appointed her to the United States Supreme Court in 1981, making her the first woman justice to serve on the Supreme Court in its 191-year history. She served for twenty-four years until her retirement in 2006.
In 1993, Janet Reno became the first female Attorney General of the United States. She went on to serve for both terms of Bill Clinton’s presidency, making her the longest-serving Attorney General in U.S. history.
Today, about 36% of all lawyers are women. Three women (Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Amy Coney Barrett) currently serve on the United States Supreme Court. Since Janet Reno was appointed as the first female Attorney General of the United States, one other woman has been appointed to that position – Loretta Lynch. The total percentage of female federal judges currently is about 28%. So, you decide, have we come a long way?