Mercedes Deiz (December 13, 1917 – October 5, 2005)[1] was an American lawyer. She became the first black woman admitted to the Oregon State Bar,[2] and was also the first black woman to serve as a district court judge and the first to be elected as a county circuit court judge.
The oldest of ten children, Mercedes Deiz (born Mercedes Francis Lopez)[3] was born in New York City in 1917 to Czechoslovakian and Cuban parents.[3] Raised in a poor family, she credited her parents' pushing her to spend time at the library and visiting the city museums for her intellectual development.[3] She credited her father, particularly, for "insist[ing] that each of his kids be unique to the best of our abilities."[4] Deiz graduated high school at age 16, and worked as a maid, theater usher, switchboard operator and ticket clerk, and attended Hunter College in New York City.[3] After moving to Portland, Oregon in 1948, she would receive her law degree while studying evenings at the Northwestern School of Law, while working as a legal assistant during the day.[4] Before she entered law school, she was active in Portland's Urban League and the NAACP, partially as a result of her experiences with discriminatory practices by her employers.
Mercedes Deiz was admitted to the Oregon bar in 1960 as the first black woman with that honor.[3] Some historical sources list Beatrice Morrow Cannady as the first black woman to practice law in Oregon; however, Cannady never passed the bar examination, having failed on five separate occasions.[5] Mercedes Deiz worked as a litigator for several years, and also as an administrative law judge for worker's compensation disputes.[6] Deiz would also become the first black female district court judge in Oregon after she was appointed by Governor Tom McCall in 1969.[3] In 1972, she became the first black woman to be elected as a County Circuit Court judge in Oregon, defeating seven other male candidates.[3]
Beginning in 1993, and in recognition of her service and impact on the legal profession, Oregon Women Lawyers, which represents women and minorities in the legal profession,[7] has bestowed the Judge Mercedes Deiz Award upon "an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to promoting minorities in the legal profession and in the community."[8] When she died in 2005, she was praised for her life of dedicated public service, and for her "legendary" mentoring of young lawyers.[8] It was said of Judge Deiz that nearly "every African-American lawyer who entered practice between 1970 and 1992 sat with Judge Deiz in her chambers, receiving a few hours or more of private tutoring in career development."[4] Deiz was posthumously honored by a joint resolution of the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 2007.[9]