List of first women lawyers and judges in Maine
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
Law School
- First female law graduate: Velma Peabody in 1938[1]
Lawyers
- 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
- 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
- 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
- First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2008[10][11]
Deputy Attorney General
- First female (Chief Deputy Attorney General of Maine): Vendean Vafiades[12]
District Attorney
- First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 1980[10][11]
Political Office
- 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
- First female (interim): Paula D. Silsby in 2001[7]
- First female (permanent): Darcie N. McElwee in 2021[1]
Maine State Bar Association
- First female president: Phyllis Givertz (1974) in 1983[14][15]
- First Asian American (female) president: Susan Faunce in 2025[16]
Firsts in local history
- Janet Mills (c. 1976):[10][11] First female to serve as a District Attorney in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties, Maine (1980)
- Natasha Irving:[17] 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):[18] First female lawyer in Cumberland County, Maine
- Sigrid E. Tompkins:[19] First female to serve as the President of the Cumberland County Bar Association, Maine (1974)
- Stephanie Anderson:[20] 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):[21] First female lawyer in Franklin County, Maine
- Iola S. Kearney (1920):[22] 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
- List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
- Timeline of women lawyers in the United States
- Women in law
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 Maine
References
- ^ 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 October 6, 2016.
- ^ Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1985.
- ^ Pogrebin, Letty Cottin (January 1, 1975). Getting Yours: How to Make the System Work for the Working Woman. McKay. ISBN 9780679505617.
- ^ "Former court justice becomes part-time DA". Archive. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ "Youngest judge appointed in Maine retires after 32 years on the bench". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Office of the Maine AG: News & Reports". www.maine.gov. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ "UNE honors Bangor federal judge". Archive. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
- ^ "First woman sworn in as U.S. District Court judge in Maine". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Office of the Maine AG: Biography of Attorney General Janet T. Mills". www.maine.gov. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Analysis | The historic firsts of the 2018 midterms". Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
- ^ "Board of Directors". Elmina B. Sewall. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
- ^ "Joann Bautista '18 hired as deputy secretary of state for Maine". MaineLaw. February 12, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Berman & Simmons Shareholder Susan Faunce Named President of the Maine State Bar Association for 2025". Berman & Simmons Trial Attorneys. January 23, 2025. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
- ^ "History made when Irving sworn in as Midcoast's top prosecutor - By Stephen Betts". waldo.villagesoup.com. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ Thompson, Frederic L. (2005). The Rines Family Legacy. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738538822.
- ^ "SIGRID E. TOMPKINS". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "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 December 31, 2018.
- ^ "Women's History Trail : Augusta Maine". dll.umaine.edu. Retrieved October 13, 2017.