This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Maine. 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 state history edit
Law School edit
- First female law graduate: Velma Peabody in 1938[1]
Lawyers edit
- First female: Clara Hapgood Nash (1872)[2]
- First female (employed by Maine legislature): Gail Laughlin in 1913[1]
- First female to argue case before Law Court: Alice Parker in 1932[1]
- First female prosecutor: Suzanne E.K. Smith in 1972[1]
- First Penobscot female: Jill E. Tompkins (1989)[1]
- First Passamaquoddy female: Tina M. Farrenkopf (1997)[1]
- First Wabanaki female: Sherri Mitchell:[1]
State judges edit
- First female (district court): Harriet Henry in 1973[3][4]
- First female (superior court): Jessie Briggs Gunther in 1976[5][6]
- First female (law court Maine Supreme Judicial Court): Caroline Duby Glassman in 1983 for the latter court[1]
- First female (Chief Justice; Maine Supreme Judicial Court): Leigh Saufley in 2001[1]
Federal judges edit
- First female (federal judge): Margaret “Peggy” Kravchuk[7][8]
- First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Maine): Nancy Torresen (1987) in 2011[9]
Attorney General of Maine edit
- First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2008[10][11]
Deputy Attorney General edit
- First female (Chief Deputy Attorney General of Maine): Vendean Vafiades[12]
District Attorney edit
- First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 1980[10][11]
Political Office edit
- First female (Governor of Maine): Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2018[10][11]
- First Latino American female (Deputy Secretary of State for Maine): Joann Bautista in 2021[13]
United States Attorney edit
- First female (interim): Paula D. Silsby in 2001[7]
- First female (permanent): Darcie N. McElwee in 2021[1]
Maine State Bar Association edit
Firsts in local history edit
- Janet Mills (c. 1976):[10][11] First female to serve as a District Attorney in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties, Maine (1980)
- Natasha Irving:[16] First female District Attorney for Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo Counties, Maine (2019)
- Jessie Briggs Gunther:[7] First female to serve as a Judge of the Androscoggin County Superior Court, Maine
- Adeline Bond Rines (1914):[17] First female lawyer in Cumberland County, Maine
- Sigrid E. Tompkins:[18] First female to serve as the President of the Cumberland County Bar Association, Maine (1974)
- Stephanie Anderson:[19] First female District Attorney for Cumberland County, Maine
- Paula Sawyer:[1] First female to graduate from the University of Maine School of Law (1968) [Cumberland County, Maine]
- Agnes Robinson (1900):[20] First female lawyer in Franklin County, Maine
- Iola S. Kearney (1920):[21] First female lawyer in Augusta, Maine [Kennebec County, Maine]
- Shirley Cogswell:[1] First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Pleasant Point – Passamaquoddy Tribal Court (1980) [Washington County, Maine]
See also edit
Other topics of interest edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bissonette, Nicole R.; Day, Katie; Chardon, Alexis Garmey (2021). "Women Lawyers in Maine: 150 Years and Counting" (PDF). Maine Bar Journal. 36.
- ^ "women | Maine: An Encyclopedia". maineanencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
- ^ Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1985.
- ^ Pogrebin, Letty Cottin (1975-01-01). Getting Yours: How to Make the System Work for the Working Woman. McKay. ISBN 9780679505617.
- ^ "Former court justice becomes part-time DA". Archive. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
- ^ "Youngest judge appointed in Maine retires after 32 years on the bench". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
- ^ a b c "Office of the Maine AG: News & Reports". www.maine.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
- ^ "UNE honors Bangor federal judge". Archive. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
- ^ "First woman sworn in as U.S. District Court judge in Maine". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ^ a b c d "Office of the Maine AG: Biography of Attorney General Janet T. Mills". www.maine.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
- ^ a b c d "Analysis | The historic firsts of the 2018 midterms". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
- ^ "Board of Directors". Elmina B. Sewall. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- ^ "Joann Bautista '18 hired as deputy secretary of state for Maine". MaineLaw. 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
- ^ "Featured Alumna - Phyllis Givertz '69 (COLLEGE CONNECTIONS - THE COLLEGE OF ARTS, HUMANITIES, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES NEWSLETTER)" (PDF). University of Southern Maine. Winter 2017.
- ^ Down East. Down East Enterprise. 1983.
- ^ "History made when Irving sworn in as Midcoast's top prosecutor - By Stephen Betts". waldo.villagesoup.com. Retrieved 2019-03-25.
- ^ Thompson, Frederic L. (2005). The Rines Family Legacy. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738538822.
- ^ "SIGRID E. TOMPKINS". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ^ "About Stephanie Anderson: Office of the District Attorney". Cumberland County, Maine.
- ^ "Women who blazed the trail in Maine law | Daily Bulldog". www.dailybulldog.com. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
- ^ "Women's History Trail : Augusta Maine". dll.umaine.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-13.