List of first women lawyers and judges in New York
This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in New York. 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.
Dorothy Chin Brandt (1975):[24][25] First Asian-American elected official in New York; First Asian-American (Chinese-American) female judge in New York (1987).
Marilyn Shafer:[26] First openly lesbian judge in New York (1993)
Faviola Soto (1979):[27][28][29] First Dominican American (female) elected as a judge in New York (1994) and serve on the New York Court of Claims
Margareth Jourdan:[30][31] First Haitian American (female) judge in New York (2001)
Wavny Toussaint:[32] First Trinidadian American (female) elected as a judge in New York (upon being elected to the New York City Civil Court of Kings County in 2002)
Toko Serita:[33] First Japanese American female judge in New York (2005)
Margarita Lopez-Torres:[33][34] First Latino American (female) to serve as a Surrogate in New York State (2006)
Mojgan Lanman:[36] First Iranian American (female) elected as a judge in New York (2014)
Raja Rajeswari (1999):[37][38] First Indian American and South Asian female judge in New York (2015)
Kathryn S. Paek (1997):[39][40] First Korean American female appointed judge in New York (2015)
Dweynie Esther Paul:[41] First Haitian American (female) elected as a civil court judge in New York (2015)
Judy Kim (1989):[42] First Korean American female elected judge in New York (2016)
Rachel Freier (2006):[43] First Hasidic Jewish American female judge in New York (2017)
Connie Mallafre Melendez (1987):[44][45] First Cuban American female elected as a judge in New York (2017)
Lillian Wan (2000):[46] First Asian American female to become a Judge of the New York Court of Claims (2018)
Soma Syed:[47] First Bangladeshi American and Muslim female elected as a judge in New York (upon becoming a judge in New York City's Queens County in 2021)
Edit Shkreli:[48][49] First Albanian American (female) judge in New York (2023)
Supreme Court
Birdie Amsterdam (1922):[33] First female to become a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court (the state's highest trial court) (1959)
Betty Weinberg Ellerin (1952):[33] First female appointed as an Associate Justice of the New York State Supreme Court (1985)
Myriam Altman:[50] Co-First female Justice appointed to Commercial Pilot Parts in New York State Supreme Court, New York County (1993)
Beatrice Shainswit:[51] Co-First female Justice appointed to Commercial Pilot Parts in New York State Supreme Court, New York County (1993)
Carolyn E. Demarest:[52] First female Justice appointed to New York Supreme Court Commercial Division, Brooklyn, Kings County (2002)
Elizabeth Hazlitt Emerson:[53][54] First female Justice appointed to New York Supreme Court Commercial Division, Suffolk County (2002)
Deborah H. Karalunas:[55] First female Justice appointed to New York Supreme Court Commercial Division, Onandaga County (2007)
Mary Johnson Lowe (1955):[33] First African American female elected to the New York State Supreme Court (1977)
Irma Vidal Santaella (1961):[11] First Puerto Rican American female appointed as a Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1983)
Betty Weinberg Ellerin (1952):[33] First female appointed as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, First Department (1999)
Rosalyn Richter (1979):[59] First openly LGBT female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, First Department (2009)
Dianne Renwick (1986):[33] First African American female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, First Department (2008)
Sallie Manzanet-Daniels:[33] First Hispanic American female Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department (2009)
Bianka Perez:[60] First Dominican American (female) to serve as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department (2023)
Geraldine T. Eiber:[33] First female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Second Department (1984)
Sandra L. Townes:[33] First African American female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Second Department (2001)
A. Gail Prudenti:[33] First female appointed as the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Second Department (2002)
Betsy Barros:[33] First Hispanic American female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Second Department (2014)
Karen K. Peters:[33] First female elected as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Third Department (1992). She later became the first female to become the Presiding Justice of the Third Department (2012).
Ann T. Mikoll:[33] First female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Third Department (1977)
Elizabeth A. Garry:[33] First openly LGBT female appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Third Department (2009)
M. Dolores Denman:[33] First female appointed as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Fourth Department (1977). She later became the first female to serve as the Presiding Justice of the Fourth Department (1991).
Rose Sconiers:[33] First female (and African American female) appointed as a Justice of the Appellate Division, New York State Supreme Court, Fourth Department (2010)
Ann C. Crowell:[61] First female appointed as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Fourth Judicial District (2011)
Christina Ryba:[62] First African African female appointed as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Third Judicial District (2015)
Grace Hanlon:[63] First openly LGBT female appointed as a Justice of the New York Supreme Court, Eighth Judicial District (2022)
Doris Ling-Cohan (1979):[57][33] First Asian American female to become an appellate judge in New York State (2014) and sit on the Appellate Term (2014)
Ona Wang:[80] First Asian American female (and Asian American in general) to serve as the U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York (2019)
Valerie Figueredo:[81] First Latino American female to serve as the U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York (2022)
Charlotte Smallwood-Cook:[105] First female elected as a District Attorney in New York (1950-1953)
Assistant District Attorney
Helen P. McCormick (1913):[106][107] First female to serve as an Assistant District Attorney in New York (1918)
Eunice Carter (1933):[108][109][110] First African American female to serve as an Assistant District Attorney in New York (1935). She was considered New York's first African American female prosecutor.[111]
Political Office
Mary Lilly (1895):[112] First female (a lawyer) elected to the New York State legislature (1918)
Geraldine Ferraro (1961):[113] First female (a lawyer) vice presidential candidate for a major U.S. political party (1984)
Hillary Clinton (1973):[114] First female (a lawyer) Senator for New York (2000). She would later become the first female U.S. presidential candidate for a major political party (2016)
Clarice Baright (1905):[121] First Jewish female magistrate in New York City, New York (c. 1925)
Jane Bolin (1932):[21][22][23] First African American female admitted to the New York City Bar Association and to join the New York City Law Department
Mary Bednar:[33] First openly LGBT female to serve on the New York City Family Court (1986)
Patricia DiMango:[122][123] First Italian American female to serve as a Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York (1995)
Diccia Pineda-Kirwan:[58] First Hispanic American female to be elected as Judge of the Civil Court (2002)
Toko Serita:[33] First Japanese American female appointed to the New York City Criminal Court (2005)
Lillian Wan:[33] First Asian American female to serve on the Family Court in New York City (2012)
Judy Kim:[124][125] First Korean American female elected judge in New York City, New York (2016)
Doris Ling-Cohan (1979):[126][127] First Asian American elected in district that includes Manhattan's Chinatown (1995), when elected to Civil Court.
Barbara Paul Robinson:[128] First female to serve as the President of the New York City Bar Association
Sheila Boston:[129] First African American female to serve as the President of the New York City Bar Association (2020)
Georgia Pestana:[130] First female (who is of Latino descent) to lead the New York City Law Department (2021)
Albany County
Margaret Walsh:[33] First openly LGBT female elected as a Judge of the Albany County Family Court, Third Department (2004)
Mae D’Agostino:[120] First female from Albany to serve as a Judge of the Northern District Court of New York (2011)
Cira Martinez:[132] First Hispanic female to serve as a Judge of the Bronx Family Court (1992) [Bronx County, New York]
Doris Gonzalez:[133] First female (and Latino American female) to serve as a Justice of the Bronx Supreme Court, New York (2007)
Nelida Malave-Gonzales:[33] First Hispanic American female elected as the Surrogate in the Bronx (2012) [Bronx County, New York]
Darcel Clark:[134] First female District Attorney for Bronx County, New York (2016)
Edit Shkreli:[48][49] First Albanian American (female) elected as a judge in Bronx County, New York (2023)
Broome County
Kathryn Grant Madigan:[135] First female President of the Broome County Bar Association (1988)
Mary Anne Lehmann:[136] First woman elected to a full time judgeship on the Binghamton City Court (1997) and as an Acting Judge of the Broome County Court (2002)
Jane Bolin (1932):[21][22] First African American female (and African American in general) to serve as the President of the Dutchess County Bar Association, New York
Erie County
Helen Z.M. Rodgers and Cecilia Bertha Wiener (1899):[5][148] First women to graduate from the University at Buffalo School [Erie County, New York]
Helen Z.M. Rodgers (1899):[5] First female lawyer in Buffalo, New York [Erie County, New York]
Winifred Claire Stanley (1934):[149] First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney for Erie County, New York (c. 1940)
Carol McCormick Crosswell Smith (1945):[148] First female lawyer from Erie County to join the United Nations' legal staff (1948)
Barbara Merriweather Sims (1955):[150] First African American female to graduate from the University of Buffalo [Erie County, New York]
Madge Taggart:[148] First female to serve as the Buffalo City Court Judge (1952) and an Erie County Family Court Judge (1962)
Rose LaMendola:[148] First female to become a Judge of the Erie County Court Judge (1974)
Maryann Saccomando Freedman:[148] First female lawyer to become president of the New York Bar Foundation (1974), the Bar Association of Erie County (1981), and the New York State Bar Association (1987)
Barbara Howe:[151] First female to serve as a surrogate judge for Erie County, New York (2003)
Betty Calvo-Torres: First Hispanic female to serve on the Buffalo City Court bench (2007)
Karen Bailey Turner:[172] First African American (female) to serve as a Judge of the Monroe County Court (2019)
Maria Cubillos Reed:[173] First Hispanic American (female) judge to preside in Monroe County Family Court (2023)
Ellen Yacknin:[33] First openly LGBT female elected as a Judge of the City Court of Rochester, Fourth Department (Monroe County, New York; 2002)
Paula C. Metzler:[174] First female elected as Penfield Town Justice (2019)
Nassau County
H. Barteau:[175] First female lawyer in Nassau County, New York
Grace D. Moran:[176] First female to serve as the President of the Nassau County Bar Association (1994)
Kathleen Rice:[177] First female District Attorney for Long Island (c. 2010) [Nassau County, New York]
Linda Kelly Mejias-Glover:[178] First Latino American female to serve as a Judge of the Nassau County Family Court (2017)
New York County (New York City)
Joan Lobis:[33] First openly LGBT female elected to the New York City Supreme Court (1992), as well as the Civil Court in New York County
Rita Mella:[33] First Hispanic American female elected as the Surrogate in New York County (2012)
Doris Ling-Cohan (1979):[179][127] First Asian American female elected to the New York State Supreme Court (2002) and first Asian American female appointed to a New York State appellate court. First Asian American elected in district that includes Manhattan's Chinatown (1995), when elected to Civil Court.
Francine Vero:[200] First female to serve as a Judge of the City Court in Saratoga Springs, New York [Saratoga County, New York]
Dianne N. Freestone:[201][202] First female to serve as an Assistant Public Defender for Saratoga County, New York (1987-1989)
Jennifer Jensen Bergan:[203] First female elected as Judge of the Saratoga County Family Court Judge (2011)
Karen Heggen:[204] First female District Attorney for Saratoga County, New York (2015)
Schenectady County
Teneka Frost:[205] First African American female (and African American in general) to become a Judge of the Schenectady City Court (2018) [Schenectady County, New York]