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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Firsts nationwide

Law school

• First female law graduate: Ada Kepley (1881) in 1870^[1]
• First African American female law graduate: Charlotte E. Ray (1872)^[2]
• First Native American (Chippewa) female law graduate: Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin in 1914^[3][4]
• First Nisei female law graduate: Patsy Mink (1953) in 1951^[5][6][7]
• First deaf African American female law graduate: Claudia L. Gordon (c. 2000)^[8][9][10]

Lawyers

• First female to act as an attorney: Margaret Brent in 1648^[11]
• First female without a formal legal education admitted to state bar: Arabella Mansfield (1869)^[12][13]
• First African American female: Charlotte E. Ray (1872)^[2]
• First Russian female: Alice Serber (1899)^[14]
• First Native American (Wyandot) female: Lyda Conley (1902)^[2]
• First blind female: Christine la Barraque (c. 1906)^[15][16][17]
• First female admitted to argue cases before a U.S. Court of Appeals: Helen R. Carloss (c. 1923)^[18]
• First Armenian American female: Norma M. Karaian^[19]
• First Japanese American female: Elizabeth K. Ohi (1937)^[20]
• First Chinese American female: Emma Ping Lum (1947)^[21][22]
• First Filipino American female: Ruby Carpio Bell (1964)^[23][24]
• First openly lesbian: Renee C. Hanover (1969)^[25]
• First Navajo female: Claudeen Arthur (1970)^[26][27][28]
• First female solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor: Carin Clauss (1963) in 1977^[29][30]
• First quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill (1995)^{[31][32][33][34]}
• First deaf African American female: Claudia L. Gordon (c. 2000)^[8][9][10]
• First Marshallese female: Arsima A. Muller (2005)^[35]
• First Air Force JAG Corps female officer permitted to wear hijab: Maysaa Ouza (2018)^[36][37]
• First deaf Pakistani-American and Muslim female: Nida Din (2020)^[38]

Lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court

• First female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Belva Ann Lockwood (1873) in 1880^[39]
• First Native American (Wyandot) female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Lyda Conley (1902) in 1909^[2]
• First African American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Constance Baker Motley (1946) in 1954^[40][41][42]
• First Asian American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Emma Ping Lum (1947) around 1958^[21][22]
• First Latino American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Vilma Socorro Martínez (1967) in 1977^[43][44]
• First Native American (Lumbee) female to win a U.S. Supreme Court case: Arlinda Locklear (1976) in 1983^[45][46][47]
• First Muslim Arab American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Fadwa Hammoud in 2021^[48]

Law clerks

• First female to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court: Lucile Lomen (1941) from 1944-1945^[49]
• First Orthodox Jewish female to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court: Rochelle Lee Shoretz from 1998-1999^[50]
• First female of Native Hawaiian ancestry to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court: Kamaile A. Nichols (Turčan) (2008) in 2016^[51][52]
• First Native American (Chickasaw) (female) to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court: Tobi Merritt Edwards Young in 2018^[53][54]
• First blind female to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court: Laura Wolk (2016) in 2019^[55]
• First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals: Carmel “Kim” Prashker Ebb in 1945^[56][57]
• First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit: Doris Gray^[58][59]
• First African American female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: Janene D. Jackson^[60]

State judges

• First female justice of the peace: Esther Hobart Morris in 1870^[61]
• First elected female justice of the peace: Catherine Waugh McCulloch (1886) in 1907^[62][63][64]
• First female probate judge: Mary H. Cooper in 1908:^{[65][66][67][68]}
• First female juvenile judge: Mary Bartelme (1894) in 1913^[69]
• First female elected judge: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1920^[70][71][72]
• First female municipal judge: Mary O'Toole (1914) in 1921^[73]
• First female police judge: Julia W. Ker (1912) in 1926^[74][73][75]
• First African American female: Jane Bolin (1932) in 1939^[76]
• First sisters to simultaneously serve as judges: Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy (1947) and Margaret G. Schaeffer (1948)^[77]
• First African American female (probate court):^[78] Edith Jacqueline Ingram Grant in 1973
• First Latino American female: Frances Munoz (1972) in 1978^{[79][80][81][82][83]}
• First Chinese American female: Patricia A. Yim Cowett (1972) in 1979^[84][85][86]
• First openly lesbian female: Mary C. Morgan (1972) in 1981^[87]
• First Native American (Ojibwe) female (federal judge): Margaret Treuer (1977) in 1983^{[88][89][90][91][92]}
• First Filipino American female: Lillian Y. Lim (1977) in 1986^[93][94][95]
• First Vietnamese American female: Wendy Duong (1984) in 1992^[96]
• First Dominican American (female) elected: Faviola Soto (1979) in 1994^[97][98]
• First Muslim American female to preside over an American courtroom: Zakia Mahasa in 1997^[99][100]
• First Indian American female: Rena M. Van Tine (1986) in 2001^{[101][102][103]}
• First Hispanic American (female) to preside as an arbitrator on an American television court show: Marilyn Milian in 2001^[104][105]
• First Korean American female: Jeannie Hong (1993) in 2002^{[106][107][108]}
• First Muslim American female: Mona K. Majzoub in 2004^[109]
• First Colombian American (female): Catalina M. Avalos in 2005^[110]
• First Arab American female: Charlene Mekled Elder in 2006^[100][111]
• First Ethiopian American (female): Nina Ashenafi-Richardson in 2008^[112][113]
• First Ecuadorian American (female) elected: Carmen Velasquez in 2009^[114]
• First known Pakistani American female: Pamela Leeming in 2009^[115][116]
• First transgender woman: Phyllis Frye (1981) in 2010^[117][118]
• First Egyptian American female elected: Sherrie Mikhail Miday (2001) in 2016^{[119][120][121]}
• First Hasidic Jewish American female elected: Rachel Freier (2006) in 2017^[122][123]
• First Hmong American females: Kashoua "Kristy" Yang (2009) and Sophia Y. Vuelo (1999) in 2017^{[124][125][126][127][128][129]}
• First Indonesian American female: Marissa Hutabarat (2010) in 2020^[130][131]
• First Tibetan American (female): Tsering Cornell in 2022^[132][133]
• First Laotian American (female): Chanpone Sinlapasai in 2022^[134]
• First Sikh female: Manpreet Monica Singh in 2023^[135]
• First hijab-wearing:^[136] Nadia Kahf in 2023

State Appellate Court

• First female: Arleigh M. Woods (1953) in 1980^[137][138]

State Supreme Court

• First female: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1922^[70][71][72]
• First female to serve as chief justice: Lorna E. Lockwood (1925) in 1970^[139]
• First Hispanic American female: Dorothy Comstock Riley in 1982^[140]
• First African American female to serve as chief justice: Leah Ward Sears (1980) in 2005^[141]
• First openly lesbian female: Virginia Linder (1980) in 2007^[142]
• First openly lesbian female to serve as chief justice: Maite Oronoz Rodríguez (2001) in 2016^[143]
• First Native American (female): Anne McKeig in 2016^[144]

Federal judges

• First female (federal judge): Kathryn Sellers (1911) in 1918^[145]
• First African American female (federal judge): Constance Baker Motley (1946) in 1966^[40][41][42]
• First Italian American female (federal judge): Veronica DiCarlo Wicker^[146]
• First African American female (court of last resort): Julia Cooper Mack (1951) in 1975^[147]
• First Mexican American female (federal judge): Irma Elsa Gonzalez (1973) in 1984^[148]
• First Asian American female (federal judge):^[149] Marilyn Go in 1993
• First openly lesbian African American female (federal judge): Deborah Batts (1972) in 1994^[150]
• First Cuban American female (federal judge): Cecilia Altonaga (1983) in 2003^[151]
• First Chinese American female (federal judge): Dolly M. Gee (1984) in 2010^[152]
• First Korean American female (federal judge): Lucy H. Koh (1993) in 2010^[153]
• First South Asian female (federal judge): Cathy Bissoon (1993) in 2011^[154]
• First Filipino American female (federal judge): Lorna G. Schofield (1981) in 2012^[155]
• First openly lesbian Asian American female (federal judge): Pamela K. Chen (1986) in 2013^[156]
• First openly lesbian Latino American female (federal judge): Nitza Quiñones Alejandro (1975) in 2013^[157]
• First Native American (Hopi) female (federal judge): Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2014^[158]
• First Iraqi Chaldean American (female) (federal judge): Hala Y. Jarbou^[159] in 2020
• First Greek American female (federal judge): Eleni M. Roumel in 2020^[160]
• First Navajo Nation (female) (federal judge): Sunshine Sykes in 2022^[161]
• First Muslim American female and Bangladeshi American [female] (federal judge): Nusrat Choudhury in 2023^[162]
• First Native Hawaiian female: Shanlyn A.S. Park in 2023^[163]

U.S. Bankruptcy Court

• First African American female: Bernice B. Donald (1979) in 1988^[164][165]

U.S. District Court

• First female: Burnita Shelton Matthews (1919) in 1949^[166]
• First Puerto Rican American female: Carmen Consuelo Cerezo (1969) in 1980^[167]
• First Asian American female: Susan Oki Mollway (1981) in 1988^[168]

U.S. Magistrate

• First African American female (chief magistrate): Joyce London Alexander (1972) in 1979^[169]

U.S., Circuit Court (Intermediate Appellate Courts)

• First female: Florence E. Allen (1914) in 1934^[70][71][72]
• First African American female: Amalya Lyle Kearse (c. 1960s) in 1979^[170]
• First Hispanic American female: Kim McLane Wardlaw (1979) in 1998^[171]
• First openly lesbian African American female (Seventh Circuit): Staci Michelle Yandle (1987) in 2014^[172]
• First Vietnamese American and Asian-Pacific female: Jacqueline Nguyen (1991) in 2012^{[173][174][175]}
• First African American (female) (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit): Tiffany P. Cunningham in 2021^[176]
• First former federal (female) public defender to serve as a U.S. Circuit Judge: Candace Jackson-Akiwumi in 2021^[177]
• First federal (female) public defender to serve as a U.S. Circuit Judge: Eunice C. Lee in 2021^[178]
• First openly lesbian female: Beth Robinson (1989) in 2021^[179][180]
• First Asian American [female] (United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit): Cindy K. Chung in 2023^[181]
• First Latino American female (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit): Irma Carrillo Ramirez in 2023^[182]

U.S. Customs Court

• First female: Genevieve R. Cline (1921) in 1928^[183]

Supreme Court of the U.S.

• First female: Sandra Day O'Connor (1952) in 1981^[184]
• First Jewish female: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1959) in 1993^[185]
• First Hispanic American female: Sonia Sotomayor (1980) in 2009^[186]
• First African American female: Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022^[187]

Attorneys General of the U.S.

• First female: Janet Reno (c. 1963) in 1993^[188]
• First African American female: Loretta Lynch (1984) in 2015^[189]

Deputy Attorney General of the U.S.

• First female: Carol E. Dinkins (1971) in 1984^[190]

Associate Attorney General of the U.S.

• First female: Rachel Brand from 2017-2018^[191]
• First Asian American female: Vanita Gupta in 2021^[192]

Solicitor General of the U.S.

• First female (acting): Barbara Underwood (1969) in 2001^[193]
• First female: Elena Kagan (1986) from 2009-2010^[194]

Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.

• First (African American) female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) in 1973^{[195][196][197]}

Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.

• First females: Annette Abbott Adams (1912)^[198] and Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1917) from 1920-1921 and 1921-1929 respectively^[199]
• First Asian American female: Rose Ochi in 1997^[200][201]

State Attorneys General

• First female: Anne X. Alpern (1927) in 1959^[202]
• First female (elected): Arlene Violet (1974) in 1985^[203][204]
• First Mexican American female: Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1999^{[205][206][207]}
• First African American female: Pamela Carter in 1993^[208]
• First Asian American (female): Kamala Harris (1989) from 2011-2017^[209]
• First openly lesbian female: Maura Healey (1998) in 2015^[210]

State Solicitor General

• First Muslim Arab American (female): Fadwa Hammoud in 2019^[48]

United States Attorney

• First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1918-1920^[198][211]
• First female to serve a full-term: Virginia Dill McCarty (1977) from 1977-1981^[212]
• First openly lesbian female: Jenny Durkan (1986) in 2009^[213][214]
• First Asian American female: Debra Wong Yang (1986) from 2002-2006^[215]
• First Native American (Hopi) female Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2007^{[216][217][218][219]}
• First Muslim (female): Saima Mohsin in 2021^[220][221]

Assistant United States Attorney

• First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1914-1918^[198][211]
• First African American female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) from 1955-1958^{[195][196][197]}
• First known quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill in 1995^{[31][32][33][34]}

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

• First female: Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston (1904) in 1906^[222][223]

State Assistant Attorney General

• First female: Ella Knowles Haskell (1888) in 1893^{[224][225][226]}
• First African American female: Helen Elsie Austin (1930) in 1937^[227]

State District Attorneys

• First female: Edna C. Plummer (1907) in 1918^[228][229]
• First openly lesbian female: Bonnie Dumanis (1977) in 2002^[230]
• First Dominican American (female): Camelia Valdes in 2009^[231]
• First Korean American (female): Grace H. Park in 2013^[232][233]
• First Puerto Rican female: Deborah González in 2020^[234]

State Deputy District Attorney

• First female: Clara Shortridge Foltz (1878) in 1910^[235]

Federal Bar Associations

• First (African American) female to co-found a coed national bar association: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1925^[236][237]
• First female president (Federal Bar Association): Marguerite Rawalt in 1943^[238]
• First Asian American (female) president (Federal Bar Association):^[60] Anh Le Kremer
• First female president (National Bar Association): Arnette Hubbard in 1981^[239]
• First Jewish female admitted (American Bar Association): Clarice Baright (1905) in 1919^[240][241]
• First African American female president (National Association of Women Lawyers): Mahala Ashley Dickerson in 1983^[242]
• First female president (American Bar Association): Roberta Cooper Ramo in 1995^[243][244]
• First African American female president (American Bar Association): Paulette Brown (c. 1976) in 2014^[245]
• First Native American (female) president elect (American Bar Association): Mary Smith in 2022 (term to begin 2023)^[246]

State Bar Association

• First (African American) female to lead coed state bar: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1921^{[236][237][247]}
• First female president of voluntary state bar: Carole Bellows in 1977^[248][249]
• First female president of mandatory/integrated state bar: Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980^[250][251]
• First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002^[252]
• First Korean American female president: Esther H. Lim in 2018^[253]

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