List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States

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.

Law school

 * First female law graduate: Ada Kepley (1881) in 1870
 * First African American female law graduate: Charlotte E. Ray (1872)
 * First Native American (Chippewa) female law graduate: Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin in 1914
 * First Nisei female law graduate: Patsy Mink (1953) in 1951
 * First deaf African American female law graduate: Claudia L. Gordon (c. 2000)

Lawyers

 * First female to act as an attorney: Margaret Brent in 1648
 * First female without a formal legal education admitted to state bar: Arabella Mansfield (1869)
 * First African American female: Charlotte E. Ray (1872)
 * First Russian female: Alice Serber (1899)
 * First Native American (Wyandot) female: Lyda Conley (1902)
 * First blind female: Christine la Barraque (c. 1906)
 * First female admitted to argue cases before a U.S. Court of Appeals: Helen R. Carloss (c. 1923)
 * First Armenian American female: Norma M. Karaian
 * First Japanese American female: Elizabeth K. Ohi (1937)
 * First female prosecutor (international military tribunal): Grace Kanode Llewellyn (1931) in 1945
 * First Chinese American female: Emma Ping Lum (1947)
 * First Filipino American female: Ruby Carpio Bell (1964)
 * First openly lesbian: Renee C. Hanover (1969)
 * First Navajo female: Claudeen Arthur (1970)
 * First female solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor: Carin Clauss (1963) in 1977
 * First quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill (1995)
 * First deaf African American female: Claudia L. Gordon (c. 2000)
 * First Marshallese female: Arsima A. Muller (2005)
 * First Air Force JAG Corps female officer permitted to wear hijab: Maysaa Ouza (2018)
 * First deaf Pakistani-American and Muslim female: Nida Din (2020)

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
 * First Native American (Wyandot) female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Lyda Conley (1902) in 1909
 * First African American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Constance Baker Motley (1946) in 1954
 * First Asian American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Emma Ping Lum (1947) around 1958
 * First Latino American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Vilma Socorro Martínez (1967) in 1977
 * First Native American (Lumbee) female to win a U.S. Supreme Court case: Arlinda Locklear (1976) in 1983
 * First Muslim Arab American female to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Fadwa Hammoud in 2021

Law clerks
See also Lists of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
 * First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals: Carmel “Kim” Prashker Ebb in 1945
 * First female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit: Doris Gray
 * First African American female to clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: Janene D. Jackson

State judges
See Women in the United States judiciary

Federal judges
See Women in the United States judiciary

Attorneys General of the U.S.
See United States Attorney General
 * First female: Janet Reno in 1993

Deputy Attorney General of the U.S.

 * First female: Carol E. Dinkins (1971) in 1984

Associate Attorney General of the U.S.

 * First female: Rachel Brand from 2017-2018
 * First Asian American female: Vanita Gupta in 2021

Solicitor General of the U.S.

 * First female (acting): Barbara Underwood (1969) in 2001
 * First female: Elena Kagan (1986) from 2009-2010

Deputy Solicitor General of the U.S.

 * First (African American) female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) in 1973

Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.

 * First females: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) and Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1917) from 1920-1921 and 1921-1929 respectively
 * First Asian American female: Rose Ochi in 1997

State Attorneys General

 * First female: Anne X. Alpern (1927) in 1959
 * First female (elected): Arlene Violet (1974) in 1985
 * First Mexican American female: Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1999
 * First African American female: Pamela Carter in 1993
 * First Asian American (female): Kamala Harris (1989) from 2011-2017
 * First openly lesbian female: Maura Healey (1998) in 2015

State Solicitor General

 * First Muslim Arab American (female): Fadwa Hammoud in 2019

United States Attorney

 * First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1918-1920
 * First female to serve a full-term: Virginia Dill McCarty (1977) from 1977-1981
 * First openly lesbian female: Jenny Durkan (1986) in 2009
 * First Asian American female: Debra Wong Yang (1986) from 2002-2006
 * First Native American (Hopi) female Diane Humetewa (1993) in 2007
 * First Muslim (female): Saima Mohsin in 2021

Assistant United States Attorney

 * First female: Annette Abbott Adams (1912) from 1914-1918
 * First African American female: Jewel Lafontant (1946) from 1955-1958
 * First known quadriplegic female: Holly Caudill in 1995

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

 * First female: Mary Grace Quackenbos Humiston (1904) in 1906

State Assistant Attorney General

 * First female: Ella Knowles Haskell (1888) in 1893
 * First African American female: Helen Elsie Austin (1930) in 1937

State District Attorneys

 * First female: Edna C. Plummer (1907) in 1918
 * First African American female: Anne Elise Thompson in 1975
 * First openly lesbian female: Bonnie Dumanis (1977) in 2002
 * First Dominican American (female): Camelia Valdes in 2009
 * First Korean American (female): Grace H. Park in 2013
 * First Puerto Rican female: Deborah González in 2020

State Deputy District Attorney

 * First female: Clara Shortridge Foltz (1878) in 1910

Federal Bar Associations
See also List of presidents of the American Bar Association
 * First (African American) female to co-found a coed national bar association: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1925
 * First female president (Federal Bar Association): Marguerite Rawalt in 1943
 * First Asian American (female) president (Federal Bar Association): Anh Le Kremer
 * First female president (National Bar Association): Arnette Hubbard in 1981
 * First Jewish female admitted (American Bar Association): Clarice Baright (1905) in 1919
 * First African American female president (National Association of Women Lawyers): Mahala Ashley Dickerson in 1983

State Bar Association

 * First (African American) female to lead coed state bar: Gertrude Rush (1918) in 1921
 * First female president of voluntary state bar: Carole Bellows in 1977
 * First female president of mandatory/integrated state bar: Donna Willard-Jones from 1979-1980
 * First openly lesbian to serve as president of a statewide bar association: Joan Ellenbogen in 1980
 * First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002
 * First Korean American female president: Esther H. Lim in 2018

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

Other topics of interest

 * List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
 * List of African American jurists
 * List of Asian American jurists
 * List of first women lawyers and judges by nationality (international)
 * List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists
 * List of Jewish American jurists
 * List of LGBT jurists in the United States
 * List of Native American jurists