From the time early explorers crossed the boundaries into what we now call the United States, there have always been instances of people seeking justice for wrongs or resolution for accusations made against them.
This was no different in early America, so in 1774, the colonists met in Philadelphia and created the first Continental Congress, where justice started its formalization process.
Women make up 39.51 percent of the more than 1.3 million lawyers in America in the year 2023, according to an article published by Forbes Advisor, which is approximately 504,000 women.
In the Courts and Hall of Justice, the legal profession, especially lawyers, is predominantly male, with women facing discrimination, disempowerment, and abuse.
In order to serve all citizens and seek justice, women have put effort into reforming the judicial system, thereby shaping the Erica History.
Here are 10 Female Lawyers Who Shaped America
1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
She was an American lawyer born in 1933 and died in September 2020. During her college years, from 1950 to 1954, it was a time of heyday for Senator Joseph McCarthy, who saw a communist in every closet.
She had a professor, Robert. E. Cushman hired her as a research assistant and made her realize the country had sworn away from values. This was how she found an interest in becoming a lawyer.
She did very well in law school, even though all eyes were on her as Harvard did not admit female law students until 1950. Pregnant women lost their jobs and spent the rest of their days playing the “good wife”.
It wasn’t until the late 60s when the feminist movement was revived that she began thinking the law could catch up with changes.
As a result, a strategy was developed to break the stereotypes that had been written into law that women could not be Doctors or Lawyers. The notion was to pick up cases where someone has a role that one doesn’t think of automatically.
In the 70s, it was ruled that people should be judged by what they do and not by their gender; all the laws were either repealed or modified.
2. Sandra Day O’Connor
She was the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court. She graduated from Stanford in the year 1950 with a BA in economics and furthered to Stanford Law School.
She struggled to find work as an attorney and worked for free for the county of ST. Mathio and then she became the deputy county attorney. She was later appointed to the state senate. In 1975, O’Connor was appointed to the superior court before being nominated by President Ronald Reagan as an associate Justice in 1981.
After some years in the attorney general’s office, she was promoted to Senator and State County Chairwoman, and in her 24 years of office, her approach and commitment to Justice influenced landmark decisions on issues like Affirmative rights and human rights.
She made a great impact as the decisive vote on abortion, religion, race, as well as other trigger-point social issues during history tenure as the first woman of the US Supreme Court.
3. Margaret Brent
She was born around 1601 in England to Richard Brent, Lord of Admiralty, and his wife, Elizabeth Reed. Margaret came from a wealthy family, so it was a possibility for higher education.
In 1600 England, they were a catholic family, and a time when there was much discrimination by protestants, so she and her sister and her brothers migrated to the Americas in 1638. Not only was it an economic prospect, but also a religious one.
They were headed to Maryland, a colony designated as a safe refuge for Catholics by its proprietor, Lord Baltimore. She arrived in ST. Mary’s the capital of a colony in Maryland with a titled land document from his cousin Lord Baltimore, and ended up with nearly 2000 acres.
They lent money to new colonists, and when people did not pay the debt, she represented herself in Court. The first woman to ever do so, she also represented other women. She went before the Maryland assembly and asked for two votes, petitioning them for a tax to pay soldiers.
Margaret was never granted the right to vote; she was, however, recognized as the founding mother and savior of the colony of Maryland and is remembered for her courage and determination.
4. Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris was born on the 20th of October 1964 to Shyamala Gopalan and Donald. J. Harris in California, where she had her PhD in Economics. After law school, Kamala Harris became a public prosecutor in California.
She has now become an activist, lawyer, and politician representing the idea of ” tough on crime” that a prosecutor should be upholding the status quo for justice.
She deemed herself a “progressive prosecutor”, which means holding serious criminals accountable, focusing on preventing crimes in the first place. She fought against the Anti-death penalty and punished big banks after the 2008 housing crisis.
She fought and won a billion-dollar prosecution against a for-profit university, and her most nationally recognized moment in American history as an attorney general is the moment to told the clerk of Los Angeles to begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.
For over two decades, Kamala Harris has built an impressive public service career-breaking barriers at every turn, and is the first Black woman elected as District Attorney of California and the first woman to serve as the state Attorney General.
She is also the first Indian American to become a US senator and the first Black woman of Asia America to be chosen as the Vice President’s running mate. Now, she stands on the brink of yet another historical achievement to become the first female Black President of the United States.
5. Janet Woods Reno
Born in July 1938, she received her chemistry degree from Cornell University and her LLB from Harvard Law School, where she was just one of 16 women in a class of more than 500 students.
In her early career, Reno was the staff director of the Judicial Committee of Florida’s House of Representatives led the redrafting of the state Juvenile code, and as a consultant to the Florida state Senate criminal commuter in 1978 and was the first woman appointed to serve as State attorney of Miami.
As an attorney, Reno focused her efforts on prevention programs and helped create the Miami drug court. She was also one of the few state attorneys in Florida who opted to retain the responsibility for the family court abuse and neglect rather than relinquish it.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Reno to be the first woman Attorney General of the United States. During her tenure, she invigorated the Department of Justice and its employees to refocus and pursue its core mission for justice and equality for all Americans.
She distinguished herself by seeking to reduce youth violence through early intervention and effective prevention. Under her leadership, increased focus and support were offered to the office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
6. Belva Ann Lockwood.
Belfast An Lockwood was born on the 24th of October 1830 and died 19th of May 1917. In 1870, she applied to the Columbian Law School but was refused admission because they feared she would distract the male students.
She was later admitted to the new National University School of Law. The District of Columbia Bar admitted her, although several Judges told Lockwood they had no confidence in her, a reaction she repeatedly had to overcome.
When she tried to gain admission to the Maryland Bar, a Judge told her that God Himself had determined that women were not equal to men.
Belva became involved in the women’s rights movement, arguing that female employees earned less than men and the number of female clerks employed was limited. She heavily lobbied and pressured Samuel Arnold, Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
She argued for equal pay for all workers and outlawed discrimination in hiring based on gender. Arnold introduced a bill to give married women in Washington DC property rights and in 1870 the law was passed enabling women to get employed in higher positions.
This gave them the ability to offer them equal pay as male employees. The bill also enabled the number of female employees to go higher. As a result, women in treasury department with equal pay rose from 4 percent to twenty percent.
7. Sonia Sotomayor
She was born on 25th June 1954 and is an American Lawyer who completed Princeton University. During her school years, she put in long hours in the library and worked over summers with a professor outside of class and gained skills knowledge, and confidence.
Sotomayor was hired out of Law school as an Assistant District Attorney under New York County District Attorney Robert Jorge Thai starting in 1979. She handled heavy caseloads as she prosecuted everything from shoplifting and prostitution to robberies and assault.
She also worked on cases involving police brutality. In the Courtroom, she was effective at cross-examination and at simplifying a case in ways to which a jury could relate. In 1983, she helped convict Richard Maddicks also known as “Tarzan Murderer”.
She displayed special zeal in pursuing child pornography cases.In 1995, Sotomayor became well-known for her ruling which ended 1994 baseball strike after 232 days.Two years later, she was nominated by Clinton to become a Judge on U.S. Court of Appeals.
In general, she showed a passion for bringing law and order to the streets of New York.
8. Lyda Burton Conley
She was born in 1869 in Kansas and died in 1946. During her lifetime, she became a lawyer and was admitted to the Missouri Bar; she was the first woman admitted to the Kansas Bar Association.
She was the first Native American to argue in front of the Supreme Court. She was known as the “Guardian of the Huron Cemetery”. She went to law school because the government threatened to sell her tribe’s cemetery. She argued that the federal government had a duty to protect Native American burial sites.
Lyda faced numerous challenges in her attempt to save the Huron Cemetery, including Legal obstacles where the US government authorized the sale of the cemetery land in 1906.
Again, she faced multiple confrontations with federal marshals who tried to remove them. Despite her efforts, she encountered societal indifference and hostility, leading to her arrest for trespassing while protecting the graves. Despite these challenges, her determination ultimately led to legal protections for the cemetery decades later.
