History

FIRST ANNUAL SESSION OF THE WOMEN LAWYERS' ASSOCIATION - AUGUST 28, 1923

Seated to the right of Chief Justice, former President, William Howard Taft, is Emilie Bullowa, President of NAWL 1923-24,
as well as Judge Mary O'Toole of Washington, D.C., Customs Court Judge Genevieve Cline, N.Y. and Phoebe Munnecke of Michigan.

Arabella Babb Mansfield
(Image courtesy of the Belle Babb Mansfield Memorial)

1869

 Arabella Babb Mansfield became the first American woman lawyer admitted to the bar.


1872

Charlotte E. Ray became the first African-American woman lawyer admitted to the bar. NAWL Member, Simone Wilson-Brito wrote and provided a feature on Charlotte E. Ray's legacy for 2021 Black History Month.


1879

Belva A. Lockwood became the first woman lawyer admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.


1899

The Women Lawyers' Club was founded by a group of 18 women lawyers in New York City.                                                            


1906

Christine la Barraque became the first blind female lawyer in the U.S.


1910 

Eliza “Lyda” Burton Conley became the first Native American (Wyandotte) woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.


1911 

The first issue of the Women Lawyers Journal was published (pdf). It cost 15¢ per issue and had 25 subscribers. 


1914 

Membership in the Women Lawyers' Club grew to 170, with representation from 25 states.


NAWL Suffragettes

Long before women could vote,

they became attorneys.™


Belva A. Lockwood
(Image courtesy of the U.S. National Archives) 

Judge Mary Belle Grossman
(Image courtesy of ohiobio.org)

Mary Florence Lathrop
(Image courtesy of American Bar Association)

Florence E. Allen
(Image
courtesy of the Supreme Court of Ohio)

Maguerite Rawalt
(Image courtesy of American Bar Association) 

1915

Women's suffrage became the first major project undertaken by the Club.  Three time NAWL President, Olive Stott Gabriel, argued for women's voting rights across the county.


1918

Judge Mary Belle Grossman and Mary Florence Lathrop became the first two women lawyers admitted to the American Bar Association.


1919

Congress passed the 19th Amendment and the Women Lawyers' Club membership mobilized to work for ratification by the states.


During the first four decades of the Club (and later, the Association) worked consistently on social legislation - including child labor laws, minimum wage, divorce and marriage laws, the right for a woman to keep her name after marriage, and the right for women to serve on juries.


1923

Due to increasing nationwide membership, the Women Lawyers' Club became the National Association of Women Lawyers.

NAWL held its first national convention in Minneapolis with Chief Justice William Howard Taft.


1934

NAWL member Florence E. Allen of Ohio was appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Roosevelt and she became the nation's first woman federal judge and the highest-ranking woman jurist.


1935

NAWL was one of the first national organizations to endorse the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, first introduced to Congress in 1922. The ERA becomes an ongoing high priority for the Association over the next several decades.


1937

K. Elizabeth Ohi became the first Asian American woman lawyer admitted to the bar.


1943

NAWL became an Affiliated Organization of the American Bar Association.


NAWL led the creation of opportunities for women to serve in the military. More than 150 NAWL members were serving in the WACS, WAVES, and the Marine Corps Women's Reserve.


1944

Lucile Lomen became the first woman to serve as a law clerk for a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.


1945

NAWL became an official NGO Observer of the newly-founded United Nations.


1949

The National Association of Women Lawyers celebrated its 50th Anniversary in St. Louis.

                                                                                                                 

1952

NAWL drafted the Uniform Divorce Bill, calling it "the greatest project NAWL has ever undertaken."


1954

The first NAWL office was established in the new ABA Center in Chicago.


1961

NAWL past president, Marguerite Rawalt, was appointed by President Kennedy to the President's Commission on the Status of Women.


Sarah Hughes swearing in Vice President Johnson
(Image courtesy of Cecil W. Stoughton)

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

Patsy Takemoto Mink
(Image courtesy of National W
omen's History Museum)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
(Image courtesy of Columbia Law
)

Sandra Day O'Connor
(Image courtesy of CBS News)

Juanita Kidd Stout

Martha W. Barnett
(Image courtesy of Holland & Knight)

Sonia Sotomayor
(Image courtesy of
NY Times)

Elena Kagan
(Im
age courtesy of US Supreme Court)

Ketanji Brown Jackson
(Image courte
sy of Committee on the Judiciary)

1964

Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color and first Asian American woman elected to Congress. In 1970, she became the first member of Congress to oppose a Supreme Court nominee on the basis of discrimination against women.


1965

NAWL member Lorna E. Lockwood became the first woman chief justice of any state.


1966

Constance Baker Motley became the first African American woman appointed as a federal judge in the U.S.


1972

Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment. The ratification of the amendment by the states became NAWL's major project for the rest of the decade. In 1972, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke became the first African American woman from California to win a House seat. NAWL Member, Vicky McPherson wrote a feature on Burke's legacy for Black History Month

in 2021.


1974

The Women Lawyers Journal carried a comprehensive review of the need for the Equal Rights Amendment written by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the first tenured woman law professor at Columbia University.


1978

Frances Munoz became the first Latina trial court judge in the U.S.

1980

Carmen Consuelo Cerezo became the first Latina to serve on a federal bench when she became a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Puerto Rico.


1981

Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.


1983

Mahala Ashley Dickerson became the first African-American president of NAWL.

In 1983, Hon. Juanita Kidd Stout spoke at NAWL's Regional Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. You can find her speech here.


1985

NAWL began granting membership to male applicants.

Juanita Kidd Stout

 

1988

NAWL member, Juanita Kidd Stout, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, becoming the first African-American woman to serve on a state's highest court.


1989

The NAWL assembly endorsed the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).


1993

Carol Moseley Braun became the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.


Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as the Attorney General of the U.S.


1995

Roberta Cooper Ramo was elected the first woman president of the American Bar Association.


1997

NAWL member, Martha W. Barnett, became the first recipient of NAWL's highest honor, the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award.


1998

Kim McLane Wardlaw became the first Latina appointed as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge when appointed to the Ninth Circuit.


1998

Susan Oki Mollway became the first Asian American woman appointed to the federal bench.


1999

NAWL celebrated its Centennial Anniversary. To commemorate the anniversary and NAWL's legacy, NAWL member Selma Moidel Smith authored the 'Centennial History of NAWL' in the 1999 Summer issue of the Women Lawyers Journal. 


2000

The first Directory of Women Lawyers and Women Owned Law Firms was published.

Sonia Sotomayor received the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award.


2005

NAWL's first Annual General Counsel Institute was held in New York City.


2006

NAWL published the first National Survey on the Retention and Promotion of Women in the Law.
                                                                                           

2008

NAWL published the Summit Report Actions for Advancing Women into Law Firm Leadership.


2009

Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina on the Supreme Court of the U.S.


NAWL's independent Supreme Court Committee recommended the confirmation of Elena Kagan as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court.


2010

Phyllis Frye became the first openly transgender judge in the world.


NAWL held regional meetings on the status of the Summit Report Actions for Advancing Women into Law Firm Leadership.
                                                                                           

2012

Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen became the first Asian American woman appointed as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge when appointed to the Ninth Circuit.


2014

NAWL introduced the NAWL Challenge Club


2016

 Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) became the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate.

NAWL issued its one-third by 2020 Challenge to the profession. 


2020

Kamala Harris became the first woman elected Vice President of the U.S.


2022

 Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first African American woman to serve as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Information gathered from NAWL's archives and the writings of Mary Zimmerman and Selma Moidel Smith.

NAWL Presidents

  • 1899 - 1960

    1899 - 1911

    Rosalie Loew

    New York, NY


    1911 - 1913

    Marion Weston Cottle

    New York, NY


    1913 - 1914

    Edith Julia Griswold

    New York, NY


    1914 - 1915

    Jean H. Norris

    New York, NY


    1915 - 1917

    Olive Stott Gabriel

    New York, NY


    1917 - 1918

    Sarah Stephenson

    New York, NY


    1918 - 1920

    Jean H. Norris

    New York, NY


    1920 - 1924

    Emilie M. Bullowa

    New York, NY


    1925 - 1927

    Rose Falls Bres

    Brooklyn, NY


    1927 -1930

    Katharine R. Pike

    Washington, D.C.


    1930 - 1934

    Olive Stott Gabriel

    New York, NY


    1934 - 1935

    Burnita Shelton Matthews

    Washington, D.C.


    1935 - 1938

    Percilla Lawyer Randolph

    Los Angeles, CA


    1938 - 1939

    Laura M. Berrien

    Washington, D.C.


    1939 - 1940

    Helen M. Cirese

    Chicago, IL


    1940 - 1941

    Florence Thacker Bradley

    Indianapolis, IN


    1941 - 1942

    Gertrude Harris

    Atlanta, GA


    1942 - 1943

    Marguerite Rawalt

    Corpus Christi, TX


    1943 - 1944

    Daphne Robert Leeds

    Washington, D.C.


    1944 - 1945

    Lula E. Bachman

    Michigan


    1945 - 1946

    Laura Miller Derry

    Louisville, KY


    1946 - 1947

    Adele I. Springer

    Brooklyn, NY


    1947 - 1949

    Charlotte E. Gauer

    Chicago, IL


    1949 - 1950

    Eleanor March Moody

    Boston, MA


    1950 - 1951

    J. Helen Slough

    Cleveland, OH


    1951 - 1952

    Mary H. Zimmerman

    Michigan


    1952 -1954

    Dorothea K. Blender

    Chicago, IL


    1954 - 1955

    Diana J. Auger

    Boston, MA


    1955 - 1956

    Victoria V. Gilbert

    Arkansas


    1956 - 1957

    Neva B. Talley

    Little Rock, AR


    1957 - 1958

    Grace B. Doering

    Cleveland, OH


    1958 - 1959

    Nina Miglionico

    Birmingham, AL


    1959 - 1960

    Maurine H. Abernathy

    Washington, D.C.


  • 1960 - 2000

    1960 - 1961

    Rebecca Bowles Hawkins

    Birmingham, AL


    1961 - 1962

    Anna O. Blum

    Monroe, WI


    1962 - 1963

    Dorothy M. Orsini Jones

    Little Rock, AR


    1963 - 1964

    Catherine Anagnost

    Chicago, IL


    1964 - 1965

    Catherine Edmondson

    Clarksville, TN


    1965 - 1966

    Mattie Belle Davis

    Florida


    1966 - 1967

    Mary Louise DeMarco McLeod

    Michigan


    1967 - 1968

    Grace D. Cox

    New York, NY


    1968 - 1969

    Ruth Gentry Talley

    Louisiana


    1969 - 1970

    Jettie Pierce Selvig

    San Francisco, CA


    1970 - 1971

    Adele T. Weaver

    Miami Beach, FL


    1971 - 1972

    Jean McVeety

    Minneapolis, MN


    1972 - 1973

    NettaBell Girard Larson

    Wyoming


    1973 - 1974

    Helen Viney Porter

    Northbrook, IL


    1974 - 1975

    Marjorie M. Childs

    San Francisco, CA


    1975 - 1976

    Kathleen Ryan Dacey

    Boston, MA


    1976 - 1977

    Lee Berger Anderson

    North Chevy Chase, MD


    1977 - 1978

    Mary Alice Duffy

    Philadelphia, PA


    1978 - 1979

    Miriam G. Newman

    New York, NY


    1979 - 1980

    Sheila Gallagher

    Anchorage, AK


    1980 - 1981

    Ann W. Lake

    Boston, MA


    1981 - 1982

    Meredith P. Sparks

    Coral Gables, FL


    1982 - 1983

    Claire E. Morrison

    Detroit, MI


    1983 - 1984

    Mahala Ashley Dickerson

    Anchorage, AK


    1984 - 1985

    Mary Jo Cusack

    Columbus, OH


    1985 - 1986

    Virginia S. Mueller

    Sacremento, CA


    1986 - 1987

    Irene Redstone

    Miami, FL


    1987 - 1988

    Sylvia Marks-Barnett

    Oklahoma City, OK


    1988 - 1989

    Leona Beane

    New York, NY


    1989 - 1990

    Gail McKnight Beckman

    Atlanta, GA


    1990 - 1991

    Jeanne Schubert Barnum

    Cherry Hill, NJ


    1991 - 1992

    Janis L. Blough

    Lansing, MI


    1992 - 1993

    Veronica C. Boda

    Brigantine, NJ


    1993 - 1994

    Faith F. Driscoll

    Dedham, MA


    1994 - 1996

    Myrna S. Raeder

    Los Angeles, CA


    1996 - 1997

    Sally Lee Foley

    Bloomfield Hills, MI


    1997 - 1998

    Janice L. Sperow

    San Diego, CA


    1998 - 1999

    Susan Fox Gillis

    Chicago, IL


    1999 - 2000

    Katherine J. Henry

    Washington, D.C.

  • 2000 - Present

    2000 - 2001

    Gail Sasnett-Stauffer

    Gainesville, FL


    2001 - 2002

    Elizabeth K. Bransdorfer

    Grand Rapids, MI


    2002 - 2003

    Ellen A. Pansky

    South Pasadena, CA


    2003 - 2004

    Zoe Sanders Nettles

    Columbia, SC


    2004 - 2005

    Stephanie Scharf

    Chicago, IL


    2005 - 2006

    Lorraine K. Koc

    Philadelphia, PA


    2006 - 2007

    Cathy Fleming

    New York, NY


    2007 - 2008

    Holly English

    Roseland, NJ


    2008 - 2009

    Lisa Horowitz

    Washington, D.C.


    2009 - 2010

    Lisa Gilford

    Los Angeles, CA


    2010 - 2011

    Dorian Denburg

    Atlanta, GA


    2011 - 2012

    Heather C. Giordanella

    Philadelphia, PA


    2012 - 2013

    Beth L. Kaufman

    New York, NY


    2013 - 2014

    Deborah S. Froling

    Washington, D.C.


    2014 - 2015

    Lisa M. Passante

    Philadelphia, PA


    2015 - 2016

    Marsha L. Anastasia

    Stamford, CT


    2016 - 2017

    Leslie Richards-Yellen

    Chicago, IL / New York, NY


    2017 - 2018

    Angela Beranek Brandt

    St. Paul, MN


    2018 - 2019

    Sarretta C. McDonough

    Los Angeles, CA


    2019 - 2020

    Kristin D. Sostowski

    Newark, NJ


    2020 - 2021

    Karen S. Morris

    San Antonio, TX


    2021 - 2022

    Jennifer A. Champlin

    Saint Louis, MO


    2022 - 2023

    DeAnna D. Allen

    Washington, D.C.


    2023 - 2024

    Peggy Steif Abram

    Minneapolis, MN


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