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List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States

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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.

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By country

Firsts nationwide

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Margaret Brent: first woman to act as an attorney in the United States (1648)
Arabella Mansfield: first woman admitted to practice law in the United States (1869)
Charlotte E. Ray: First African American female lawyer in the United States and Washington, D.C. (1872)
Lyda Conley: First Native American female lawyer in the United States (1902)

Law school

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See Law school in the United States

Lawyers

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Lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court

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Law clerks

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See also Lists of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States

State judges

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See Women in the United States judiciary

Federal judges

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See Women in the United States judiciary

Attorneys General of the U.S.

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See United States Attorney General

Deputy Attorney General of the U.S.

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Associate Attorney General of the U.S.

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Solicitor General of the U.S.

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Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.

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Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.

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State Attorneys General

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State Solicitor General

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United States Attorney

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Assistant United States Attorney

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Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

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State Assistant Attorney General

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State District Attorneys

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State Deputy District Attorney

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Federal Bar Associations

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See also List of presidents of the American Bar Association

State Bar Association

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  • First (African American) female to lead coed state bar: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1921[98][99][105]
  • First female president of voluntary state bar: Carole Bellows in 1977[106][107]
  • First female president of mandatory/integrated state bar: Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980[108][109]
  • First openly lesbian to serve as president of a statewide bar association: Joan Ellenbogen in 1980[110]
  • First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002[111]
  • First Korean American female president: Esther H. Lim in 2018[112]
  • First South Asian female president: Sunitha Anjilvel in 2024[113]

Firsts in individual states

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Firsts in Washington, D.C.

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Firsts in the U.S. territories

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See also

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Other topics of interest

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References

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  3. ^ Myra Bradwell; denied admission to the bar in 1869 because she was a woman; admitted in Illinois in 1890 nunc pro tunc and backdated to 1869.
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  105. ^ Rush became the President of the Iowa Colored Bar Association in 1921.
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  107. ^ Bellows was the President of the Illinois State Bar Association which is considered a voluntary bar association.
  108. ^ Carter, Terry (May 2003). Barrister in the Backwoods. American Bar Association.
  109. ^ Willard-Jones was the President of the Alaska Bar Association, which is considered a unified state bar (mandatory/integrated).
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  113. ^ "Washington State's Sunitha Anjilvel Becomes first South Asian Female President of a State Bar Association". wsba.org. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
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