Rose S. Zetzer (January 13, 1904April 5, 1998) was an American lawyer. She was the first woman to gain admission to the

Maryland bar The Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Maryland. The association pursues the following mission: "to effectively represent Maryland’s lawyers, to provide member services, and to promote profes ...

and the founder of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

's first all-female law firm.

Early life and education

Zetzer was born in East

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1904, to Russian immigrants Jacob, a butcher and Balia Zetzer. She was the eldest of three siblings. Her decision to become an attorney came after a discussion in the 8th grade about whether women should have the right to vote. She attended Eastern High School, where she was trained as a stenographer, and received her undergraduate degree from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

. She then pursued a law degree from

University of Maryland Law School The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland ...

and began practicing law immediately after her graduation in 1925.

Career

Zetzer's first client paid her in candy, the second in " hose" due to a societal reluctance to give women money. She first attempted to join the bar in 1927, but was repeatedly rejected due to her sex. She was finally admitted in 1946, becoming the bar's first female member 21 years after she had begun practicing law. Zetzer was the president of the Women's Bar Association and vice-president of the

National Association of Women Lawyers The National Association of Women Lawyers is a voluntary organization founded in 1899 and based in the United States. Its aim is to promote women lawyers and women's legal rights.

. She, along with Jeanette Wolman would march with the Suffragettes. In 1940 Zetzer formed Maryland's first all female law-firm, Zetzer, Carton, Friedler & Parke. Until 1947, women could not serve on juries in Baltimore City due to the lack of bathrooms. Zetzer's work resulted in passing a partial women's jury service bill through the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...

. A

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

woman, Zetzer applied to become the first female assistant in the State's attorney's office of Baltimore City in the 1950s, but was ultimately denied the position "as a matter of religion".

Later life and death

Zetzer was inducted into the Baltimore City Hall of Fame in 1990. She retired in the early 1990s, and died of heart failure on April 5, 1998. The University of Maryland Law School established a fellowship in her honor.

References

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Maryland lawyers Lawyers from Baltimore 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers American people of Russian-Jewish descent {{DEFAULTSORT:Zetzer, Rose