List of first women lawyers and judges in Illinois
This is a list of the first women lawyer and judge in Illinois. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law. Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to obtain a law degree or become a political figure.
Firsts in state history
Lawyers
- Myra Bradwell : She aimed to be the first woman admitted to the Illinois State Bar, but was denied admission in 1872.
- Alta M. Hulett : First female lawyer in Illinois admitted to the bar.
- Ellen A. Martin : First female to successfully vote in Illinois after finding a loophole in the Lombard town charter in 1891, which was upheld in court.
- Mary A. Ahrens : Sole female in the inaugural group of 33 lawyers sworn to the bar of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1891.
- Ida Platt : First African American female lawyer in Illinois
- Helen M. Cirese : First Italian American female admitted to the Illinois State Bar
- Elizabeth K. Ohi : First Japanese American female lawyer in Illinois
Judicial Officers
State
Justice of the Peace
- Catherine Waugh McCulloch : First female elected as the Justice of the Peace in Illinois
Judges
- Mary Bartelme: First female judge in Illinois
- Edith S. Sampson : First African American female judge in Illinois
- Consuelo Bedoya-Witt : First Hispanic American female judge in Illinois
- Lynne Kawamoto : First Asian American female judge in Illinois
- Rena M. Van Tine : First Indian American female judge in Illinois
- Pamela Leeming: First known Pakistani American judge in the U.S.
- Laura Liu : First Asian American female judge in Illinois
District Court
- Vershenia Ballance Moody : First female appointed as a Judge of the 6B Judicial District in Illinois
Circuit Court
- Rosemary Collins: First female appointed as a Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit
- Rita B. Garman : First female to serve as the Presiding Judge for the Fifth Circuit
- Jane D. Waller : First female appointed as a Judge of the Nineteenth Circuit in Illinois
Appellate Court
- Rita B. Garman : First female to serve as a Judge of the Fourth District Appellate Court in Illinois
- Lisa Holder White : First African American female appointed as a Judge of the Fourth District Appellate Court in Illinois
Supreme Court
- Mary Ann McMorrow : First female appointed as a Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and to become a Chief Justice
- Sandra Otaka: First Asian American to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois
Federal
District Court
- Ann Claire Williams : First African American female appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Rebecca R. Pallmeyer : First female to serve as the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Nancy J. Rosenstengel: First female appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
- Staci Michelle Yandle : First openly LGBT and African American female appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
- Martha M. Pacold: First Asian American female appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Appellate Court
- Ann Claire Williams : First African American female appointed as a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Attorney General
- Lisa Madigan: First female Attorney General of Illinois
Deputy Attorney General
- Jill Wine-Banks: First female to serve as the Deputy Attorney General for Illinois
Assistant Attorney General
- Jean Williams : First African American female to serve as the Assistant Attorney General of Illinois
Solicitor General
- Jill Wine-Banks: First female to serve as the Solicitor General for Illinois
United States Attorney
- Miriam Miquelon: First female to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois
Public Defender
- Pearl M. Hart : First female to serve as a public defender for the Moral Court of Chicago, Illinois
Bar Association
- Carole Bellows: First female to serve as the President of the Illinois State Bar Association
Firsts in local history
Region
- Dorothy Wilbourn Spomer: First female elected judge in Southern Illinois
Adams County
- Debra Wellborn : First female associate circuit judge appointed in Adams County, Illinois
Bureau County
- Charlotte Safranske Martin : First woman to be elected State's Attorney of Bureau County, Illinois. She won the vote 9,883 to 8,171. She was also the first Democrat to be elected to that post in 44 years.
Christian County
- Ellen M. Yockey : First female lawyer in Taylorville, Illinois
Clark County
- Rita Garman : First female to serve as a circuit judge and as presiding judge for the Fifth Circuit
Coles County
- Rita Garman : First female to serve as a circuit judge and as presiding judge for the Fifth Circuit
- Teresa Righter : First female judge in Coles County, Illinois
Cook County
- Emma Baumann: First female to graduate from the Chicago College of Law
- Catherine Waugh McCulloch : First female Justice of the Peace in Cook County, Illinois
- Nellie Carlin : First female to serve as the Public Guardian and Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County, Illinois
- Mary Bartelme: First female judge in Chicago, Illinois
- Lynne Kawamoto : First Asian American female to serve as an Associate Judge for Cook County, Illinois
- Sophia Hall : First female to serve as a Presiding Judge in Cook County, Illinois
- Pamela Leeming: First Pakistani American female to serve as an Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County
- Jessica Arong O’Brien: First Filipino American female judge in Cook County, Illinois
- Anita Alvarez: First Hispanic American female elected as the State's Attorney for Cook County, Illinois
- Kim Foxx: First African American female elected as the State’s Attorney for Cook County, Illinois
- Lori Lightfoot : First African American and openly LGBT female to serve as Mayor of Chicago
- Esther Rothstein: First female to serve as President of the Chicago Bar Association
- Aurora Austriaco : First Filipino American female to serve as the President of the Chicago Bar Association
Cumberland County
- Rita Garman : First female to serve as a circuit judge and as presiding judge for the Fifth Circuit
DuPage County
- Mary Bartelme: First female judge in Chicago, Illinois
- Eva Rose Pollack Glaser : First female lawyer in DuPage County, Illinois
- Helen Kinney : First female Assistant State's Attorney and circuit judge in DuPage County, Illinois
- Emma Baumann: First female to graduate from the Chicago College of Law
- Esther Rothstein: First female to serve as President of the Chicago Bar Association
- Lori Lightfoot : First African American and openly LGBT female to
serve as Mayor of Chicago - Aurora Austriaco : First Filipino American female to serve as the President of the Chicago Bar Association
Edgar County
- Rita Garman : First female to serve as a circuit judge and as presiding judge for the Fifth Circuit
Kane County
- Marie Hunter Willis: First female lawyer in Kane County, Illinois
- Pamela Jansen: First female judge in Kane County, Illinois
- Sandra T. Parga: First Hispanic female judge in Kane County, Illinois
Kankakee County
- J. Imani Drew : First African-American female judge in Kankakee County, Illinois. She was also the first African-American prosecutor in the county's history.
Kendall County
- Victoria Chuffo: First female Public Defender for Kendall County, Illinois
Lake County
- Jane D. Waller : First female judge in Lake County, Illinois
- Barbara Gilleran-Johnson: First female appointed as a Judge of the Lake County Juvenile Court
LaSalle County
- Marilyn Barton : First woman to practice law in LaSalle County, Illinois
- Karen Donnelly: First female chief prosecutor in LaSalle County, Illinois
Lee County
- Anna Jensen Moore: First female lawyer in Lee County, Illinois
Macon County
- Fannie Adele Bivans: First female lawyer in Decatur, Illinois
Madison County
- Lola Maddox: First female judge in Madison County, Illinois
McLean County
- Elizabeth Robb: First female judge in McLean County, Illinois
Menard County
- M. Carol Pope: First female to serve as the State's Attorney for Menard County, Illinois, as well as the first judge from the 8th Judicial Circuit and the county to be assigned to the Fourth District Appellate Court
St. Clair County
- Alexis Otis-Lewis: First African American female judge in St. Clair County, Illinois
Sangamon County
- Erma Templeman: First woman to practice law in Sangamon County, Illinois
Stark County
- Suzanne Patton : First female judge in Stark County, Illinois
Vermillion County
- Rita Garman : First female assistant state’s attorney and first female associate judge in Vermillion County, Illinois. She was also the first female to serve as a circuit judge and as presiding judge for the Fifth Circuit .
Will County
- Susan Pierson De Witt: First female to practice law in Will County, Illinois
- Carmen Julia Lynn Goodman: First African American female to serve as a Judge of the Circuit Court in Will County, Illinois
Williamson County
- Carolyn B. Smoot: First female appointed as a judge of the First Judicial Circuit in Williamson County, Illinois
Woodford County
- Frances Marion Ridgely: First female lawyer to plead a case in Woodford, Illinois
Other topics of interest
- List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
- List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Illinois