This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Arizona. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.
Firsts in Arizona's history
editLawyers
edit- First female: Sarah Herring Sorin (1892)[1]
- First Hispanic American female: Mary Stella Cota-Robles (1940)[2]
- First African American female: Jean Williams (1949)[3][4]
- First female to serve as the chief staff attorney for the Supreme Court of Arizona: Sarah D. Grant[5]
- First female to start a practice on Arizona Indian Reservation and serve as general counsel to the Havasupai: Martha Blue (1967)[6]
- First Asian American female: Roxanne Song Ong (1979)[7][8]
State judges
edit- First female justices of the peace: Nellie T. Bush and Emeline Ferguson in 1914[9]
- First female to unsuccessfully run for court superior court judge: Gertrude Converse in 1948[10]
- First female (Arizona Superior Court): Lorna E. Lockwood (1925) in 1950[11]
- First Latino American female (reputed): Anita Lewis Chávez (1947)[4][12][13]
- First female (Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court): Lorna E. Lockwood (1925) in 1961[11]
- First female (Arizona Court of Appeals): Mary M. Schroeder in 1975[14]
- First African American female: Jean Williams (1949) in 1977[3][4]
- First Asian American female: Roxanne Song Ong (1979) circa 1986[7][8]
- First African American female (justice of the peace): Pamela Gutierrez in 1994[15]
- First Asian American female (Arizona Superior Court): Rosa Mroz in 2004[16][17]
- First Latino American female (Arizona Court of Appeals): Patricia A. Orozco (1989) in 2004[18][19]
- First openly lesbian female: Tracey Nadzieja in 2018[20]
- First Navajo female (chief justice of tribal high court): Claudine Bates-Arthur (1970)[21]
- First Muslim female (justice of the peace pro tempore): Laila Ikram (2022)[22]
Federal judges
edit- First Latino American female (U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona): Mary H. Murguia (1985) in 2000[23]
- First Native American (Hopi) female (U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona): Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2014[24][25][26][27]
Attorney General of Arizona
edit- First female: Janet Napolitano (1983) from 1999-2003[28]
Assistant Attorney General
edit- First female: Lorna E. Lockwood (1925) in 1948[11][29]
United States Attorney
edit- First female: Mary Anne Richey (née Reimann) in 1960[2][30]
- First Native American (Hopi) female: Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2007[24][25][26][27]
Assistant United States Attorney
edit- First female: Mary Anne Richey (née Reimann) around 1954[30]
County Attorney
edit- First female: Rose Sosnowsky Silver in 1969[31][32]
- First Latino American female: Patricia A. Orozco (1989) in 1999[18][19]
Assistant County Attorney
edit- First female: Loretta Savage Whitney in 1943[10]
Political Office
edit- First openly bisexual female (elected to the U.S. Congress): Kyrsten Sinema (2005) in 2013[33][34][35]
State Bar of Arizona
editFirsts in local history
edit- Donna Grimsley:[41] First female to serve on the Apache County Superior Court, Arizona (2003)
- Ann Littrell:[42] First female to serve on the Cochise County Superior Court in Arizona
- Helen Colton:[43] First female judge in Coconino County, Arizona (1919)
- Ann Kirkpatrick (1979):[44] First female Deputy County Attorney for Coconino County, Arizona
- Daisy Flores:[45] First female County Attorney in Gila County, Arizona
- Monica Lynn Stauffer:[46] First female to serve on the Superior Court of Greenlee County, Arizona (1998)
- Jessica Quickle:[47] First female judge in La Paz County, Arizona (2018)
- Anita Lewis Chávez (1947):[4][12][13] Reputed to be the first Latino American female lawyer in Maricopa County, Arizona
- Gloria Ybarra:[4] First Hispanic female to serve on the Maricopa County Superior Court, Arizona (1985)
- Sarah D. Grant:[5] First female to serve as the Presiding Criminal Judge in the Maricopa County Superior Court
- Rosa Mroz:[16][17] First Asian American female to serve on the Maricopa County Superior Court (2004)
- Barbara Rodriguez Mundell:[48] First Hispanic female to serve as the Presiding Judge of Maricopa County, Arizona (2005)
- Roxanne Song Ong:[7][8] First Asian female to serve as the Presiding Judge of the Phoenix Municipal Court (Maricopa County, Arizona; 2005)
- Allister Adel:[49] First female to serve as the County Attorney of Maricopa County, Arizona (2019)
- Charlotte Wells:[50] First female judge in Mohave County, Arizona (2002)
- Carolyn Holliday:[51][52] First female elected to the Superior Court of Navajo County, Arizona, (1996) and serve as its Presiding Judge (1999)
- Mary Anne Richey (née Reimann):[2][30] First female to serve as the Deputy County Attorney in Pima County, Arizona (1952)
- Alice Truman:[53] First female Justice of the Peace and judge in Pima County, Arizona (1962)
- Rose Sosnowsky Silver:[31][32] First female appointed as the Pima County Attorney (1969)
- Barbara LaWall (1976):[54] First female elected as the Pima County Attorney (1996)
- Lina Rodriguez (1977):[4][55] First Hispanic American to serve on the Pima County Superior Court, Arizona (1984)
- Laine Sklar:[56] First female magistrate in Marana, Arizona (c. 2006) [Pima County, Arizona]
- Margarita Bernal (c. 1979):[57] First Latino American female to serve as a municipal court judge in Tucson, Arizona [Pima County, Arizona]
- Anna Montoya-Paez:[58] First female elected to the Santa Cruz County Superior Court, Arizona
- Sheila Polk (1982):[54] First female to serve as the Yavapai County Attorney (2004)
- Nellie T. Bush and Emeline Ferguson:[9] First females elected as Justices of the Peace in Yuma County, Arizona (1914)
- Patricia A. Orozco (1989):[18][19] First Latino American female appointed as the County Attorney for Yuma County, Arizona (1999)
See also
editOther topics of interest
editReferences
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- ^ a b c Arizona, State Bar of. "Diversity". State Bar of Arizona. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ^ a b "Jean Williams, 1st Black female municipal judge in Phoenix, dies". azcentral. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
- ^ a b c d e f Smith, Zachary Alden (2002). Politics and Public Policy in Arizona. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780275971182.
- ^ a b Ryan, Michael D. (November 2000). "FEATURE: ARIZONA TRAILBLAZERS: HONORING 100 WOMEN AND MINORITY LAWYERS". AZ Attorney. 37: 20.
- ^ Ryan, Michael D. (November 2000). "Arizona Trailblazers: Honoring 100 Women & Minority Lawyers". AZ Attorney. 37: 20.
- ^ a b c "Phoenix picks chief judge after controversial process". azcentral. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
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- ^ a b "Nurturing Tradition, Fostering Change: Patriotism, Community Service and the Women's Auxiliary of American Legion Tony F. Soza-Ray Martínez Post 41 :: Arizona Latinos in Public Service". azmemory.azlibrary.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
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- ^ Upon becoming a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona
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