This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. 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 Indiana's history

Lawyers

*First female: Elizabeth Eaglesfield (1875) *First female to practice law after appealing to the Indiana Supreme Court:

Antoinette Dakin Leach Antoinette Dakin Leach (April 3, 1859 – June 11, 1922) was an American lawyer and a women's rights pioneer who was an active organizer on behalf of women's suffrage in Indiana. When the Greene- Sullivan Circuit Court denied Leach's petition for ...

(1893) *First African American female:

Helen Elsie Austin Helen Elsie Austin (May 10, 1908– Oct 26, 2004), known as H. Elsie Austin as an adult, was an American attorney, civil rights leader, and diplomat from the Midwest. From 1960 to 1970, she served for 10 years with the United States Information A ...

(1930) *First Asian American female (Filipino descent): Lourdes Dellota Alba (1966)

State judges

* First female: Ella Groninger in 1919 * First female (elected): V. Sue Shields in 1964Elected to the Hamilton County Superior Court. See Seager, p. 18. * First female (county court): Linda Lucille Chezem in 1975 * First African American female: Phyllis Senegal (1975) * First female (

Indiana Court of Appeals The Indiana Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Indiana. It is the successor to the Indiana Appellate Court. History The Indiana Appellate Court was created by the Indiana General Assembly by statute in 1 ...

): V. Sue Shields in 1978 * First female (circuit court): Linda Lucille Chezem in 1982 * First (African American) female ( Indiana Supreme Court): Myra C. Selby (1995) * First female (Chief Justice; Indiana Supreme Court): Loretta Rush in 2014

Federal judges

*First female (

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (in case citations, S.D. Ind.) is a federal district court in Indiana. It was created in 1928 by an act of Congress that split Indiana into two separate districts, northern an ...

): Sarah Evans Barker (1969) *First African American (female) (

Tanya Walton Pratt Tanya Marie Walton Pratt (born December 14, 1959) is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Early life and education Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Pratt graduated fro ...

(2010) *First African American (female) from Indiana (

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts: * Central District of Illinois * Northern District of ...

): Doris Pryor (2022) *First African American (female) (

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana (in case citations, N.D. Ind.) was created in 1928 by an act of Congress of the United States, Congress that split Indiana into two separate districts, northern and U.S. District Cour ...

): Cristal C. Brisco in 2024

Attorney General of Indiana

* First (African American) female:

Pamela Carter Pamela Lynn Carter (born Pamela Lynn Fanning; August 20, 1949) was the first black woman to serve as a state's attorney general. She served as Indiana Attorney General from 1993 to 1997. Career Pamela Carter attended the University of Detroit, ...

from 1993-1997

Public Defender

* First (African American) female: Harriette Bailey Conn in 1970

United States Attorney

* First female ( U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana; full term):

Virginia Dill McCarty Virginia Dill McCarty (December 15, 1924 – May 26, 2006) was an American lawyer who served as the U.S. Attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana from 1977 to 1981, and became the first woman to be appointed an ...

(1977) from 1977-1981 * First female ( Northern District of Indiana; Acting): Tina L. Nommay in 2021

Assistant United States Attorney

* First female: Sarah Evans Barker (1969) in 1972

Bar Association

* First female president (

Indiana State Bar Association The Indiana State Bar Association (ISBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Indiana. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in Indiana. Th ...

): Jeanne S. Miller in 1988 * First female president (Indianapolis Bar Association): Mary Y. Marsh in 1988 * First African American female president (Indianapolis Bar Association): Cynthia J. Ayers in 2006

Firsts in local history

* Carina Warrington (1915): First female lawyer in Allen County, Indiana * Karen E. Richards: First female to serve as the Prosecutor for

Allen County, Indiana Allen County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 385,410, making it the third-most populous county in Indiana. The county seat and largest city is Fort Wayne, the second largest city in Indiana ...

* Lisa Swaim: First female judge in Cass County, Indiana (2019) * Clementine Barthold (1980): First female judge in

Clark County, Indiana Clark County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana, located directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. At the 2020 census, the population was 121,093. The county seat is Jeffersonville. Clark County is part of the Louisville/ ...

* Judith Dwyer (1963): First female judge in Daviess County, Indiana (1987) * Derexa Savage King (1951): First female lawyer in Dubois County, Indiana * Beth Ann Butsch: First female lawyer and judge (2010) in

Fayette County, Indiana Fayette County is one of 92 counties in U.S. state of Indiana located in the east central portion of the state. As of 2020, the population was 23,398. Most of the county is rural; land use is farms, pasture and unincorporated woodland. The coun ...

* Susan Orth: First female judge in

Floyd County, Indiana Floyd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. Its county seat is New Albany. Floyd County has the second-smallest land area in the entire state. It was formed in the year 1819 from neighboring Clark, and Harrison counties. F ...

(2004) * Edith Eulalia Hendren (1921): First female lawyer in

Greene County, Indiana Greene County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 33,165. The county seat is Bloomfield. The county was determined by the US Census Bureau to include the mean center of U.S. population in 1930. History Gree ...

* Dena Benham Martin: First female judge in Greene County, Indiana * AmyMarie Travis: First female appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of Jackson County (2018) * Cynthia S. Emkes (1985): First female judge in

Johnson County, Indiana Johnson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 161,765. The county seat is Franklin. Johnson County is included in the Indianapolis- Carmel- Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area. Trans ...

(1987) * Susan Hemminger: First female judge in LaPorte County, Indiana * Kimberly Kiner: First African American female judge in LaPorte County, Indiana * Linda Lucille Chezem: First female to serve as a Judge of the Lawrence County Court, Indiana (1975) * Hentietta Trisch Willkie (1897):Seager, p. 15. First woman admitted to the bar in Madison County. * Angela Warner Sims: First female circuit judge for Madison County, Indiana (2012) * Ella Groninger: First female judge in Marion County, Indiana (1919) * Z. Mae Jimison: First African American female appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court in Marion County, Indiana (1988) * Cynthia J. Ayers: First African American female elected as a Judge of the Superior Court in Marion County, Indiana (1991) * Karen E. Bravo: First African American (female) to serve as the Dean of

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, the urban campus of Indiana University. In the summer of 2001 ...

(2020) * Helen Hironimus: First female lawyer in

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

Posey County, Indiana Posey County is the southernmost, southwesternmost, and westernmost county in the U.S. state of Indiana. Its southern border is formed by the Ohio River, and its western border by the Wabash River, a tributary to the Ohio. As of 2010, the popul ...

* Frances Tilton Weaver (1925): First female lawyer in

Porter County, Indiana Porter County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 173,215, making it the 10th most populous county in Indiana. The county seat is Valparaiso. The county is part of Northwest Indiana, as well as the Chicago ...

* Shelli Wright Johnson (1979): First female lawyer in Portage, Indiana orter County, Indiana* Mary Harper: First female to serve as the Deputy Prosecutor and Chief Deputy Prosecutor (1975-1981), a Superior Court Judge (1984), and a Judge of the Circuit Court (1996) in Porter County, Indiana * Lisa M. Traylor-Wolff (1986): First female lawyer in Pulaski County, Indiana * Maxine E. Ryer Miller (1922): First female lawyer in St. Joseph County, Indiana * Elizabeth Fletcher Allen (1938): First African American female lawyer in St. Joseph County, Indiana * Stephanie Steele: First African American female to serve as President of the St. Joseph County Bar Association (2019) * Graciela Olivarez: First (Latino American) female to graduate from

Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among the nation's "Top 1 ...

(1970) St._Joseph_County,_Indiana.html" ;"title="nowiki/> St. Joseph County, Indiana">nowiki/> St. Joseph County, Indiana* Helen M. Gougar (1895): First female lawyer in

Tippecanoe County, Indiana Tippecanoe County is located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Indiana about 22 miles east of the Illinois state line and less than 50 miles from the Chicago and the Indianapolis metro areas. As of the 2010 census, the population ...

* Tamar Althouse Scholz (1893): First woman to practice law in

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

Vanderburgh County, Indiana Vanderburgh County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 179,703. The county seat is in Evansville. While Vanderburgh County was the seventh-largest county in 2010 population with 179,703 people, it is also th ...

. She was also the first woman to graduate (1892) from the

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

's Department of Law. * Sue Ann Hartig: First female judicial officer in

* Mary Margaret “Maggie” Lloyd: First elected female judge in

(2000) * Elizabeth "Bessie" Jane Eaglesfield (1875): First woman in Indiana admitted to the bar, Vigo County Circuit Court, September 8. 1875. * Barbara Brugnaux: First female judge in

Vigo County, Indiana Vigo County ( ) is a county on the western border of the U.S. state of Indiana. According to the 2020 United States Census, it had a population of 105,994 . Its county seat is Terre Haute. Vigo County is included in the Terre Haute metropolita ...

* Amy Catherine Cornell: First female appointed as a Judge of the Wabash County Superior Court, Indiana (2017)

References

{{Reflist American women lawyers Lists of women by occupation and nationality Indiana law Women in Indiana Lists of American legal professionals Lists of people from Indiana