List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Pennsylvania

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Pennsylvania. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to obtain a law degree or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history
Jonathan Jasper Wright: First African American male lawyer in Pennsylvania (1865)
Eduardo C. Robreno: First Cuban American male Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1992)

Lawyers
Judges
  • Issac Miranda:[1][2][3][4] First Jewish American male to serve as a judge in Pennsylvania (1727)
  • Herbert E. Millen (c. 1910):[13][14][15] First African American male judge in Pennsylvania (1947)
  • Theodore O. Spaulding:[16] First African American male to serve as a Judge of the Superior Court in Pennsylvania (1966)
  • Leonard Staisey (c. 1950):[7][8] First blind male judge in Pennsylvania (1979-1990)
  • Nelson A. Diaz (1972):[11][12] First Hispanic American male judge in Pennsylvania (1981)
  • William M. Marutani:[17][18][19][15] First Asian American male judge in Pennsylvania (1975)
  • Eduardo C. Robreno (1978):[20] First Cuban American male judge in Pennsylvania
  • Daniel Anders:[21] First openly LGBT male judge in Pennsylvania (2007)
Court of Common Pleas
  • Raymond Pace Alexander (1923):[22] First African American male appointed as a Judge of the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas (1959)
Supreme Court
  • Horace Stern:[23] First Jewish American male appointed as a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1936)
  • Robert N. C. Nix Jr. (c. 1954):[24] First African American male appointed as a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1972) and serve as its Chief Justice (1984)
District Court
  • Paul Allen Simmons (1949):[25] First African American male appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania (1978)
  • A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. (1952):[26] First African American male appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1964). He was also the first African American male appointed to a regulatory commission when he became a commissioner for the Federal Trade Commission (1962).
  • Gary L. Lancaster (1974):[27] First African American to serve as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (2009)
  • Eduardo C. Robreno (1978):[20] First Cuban American male appointed as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (1992)
  • Juan Ramon Sanchez (1981):[28] First Latino American male to serve as the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (2018)
Appellate Court
  • Luis Felipe Restrepo (1986):[29] First Hispanic American male appointed as a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (2016)

Political Office
  • Daniel Anders:[21] First openly LGBT male (a lawyer) to run for public office and win a judicial seat in Pennsylvania (2007)
  • Brian Sims (2004):[30] First openly LGBT male (a lawyer) elected as a state legislator in Pennsylvania (2012)

Bar Association
  • Gilbert "Ott" Nurick:[31] First Jewish male to serve as the President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (1967)
  • Michael H. Reed:[32] First African American male (and person of color) to serve as the President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (2004-2005)

Firsts in local history

Alphabetized by county name

Allegheny County

Beaver County

Blair County

Bucks County

Chester County

Delaware County

Lehigh County
  • Alfred Hemmons: First African American male lawyer admitted to the Lehigh County Bar Association (1975)

Monroe County
  • Maxwell H. Cohen:[41] First Jewish male lawyer admitted to the Monroe County Bar Association in Pennsylvania. He was also the first lawyer to hire an African American law clerk and a female law clerk.

Montgomery County
  • Horace A. Davenport:[42] First African American male judge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (1975)
  • Daniel J. Clifford:[43][44] First openly LGBT male judge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (2016)

Philadelphia County

York County

See also

Other topics of interest

References
  1. Peters, Madison Clinton (1915). The Jews who Stood by Washington: An Unwritten Chapter in American History. Trow Press. p. 22.
  2. Kurtz, Seymour (1985). Jewish America. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070356559.
  3. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Macmillan. 1971.
  4. Sloan, Irving J. (1978). The Jews in America, 1621-1977: A Chronology & Fact Book. Oceana Publications. ISBN 9780379005301.
  5. Smith, Jr., J. Clay (1999-01-01). Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812216857.
  6. Wright would later practice in South Carolina and become the first African American male appointed as a Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court (1870).
  7. Representatives, Pennsylvania General Assembly House of (1965). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Legislative Directory, [House of Representatives]. House of Representatives of Pennsylvania.
  8. Outlook for the Blind. American Foundation for the Blind. 1949.
  9. The Pennsylvania Lawyer. Pennsylvania Bar Association. 2003-01-01.
  10. "Latina in charge of the PBA". AL DÍA News. 2017-07-17. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  11. "Honorable Nelson A. Diaz". Dilworth Paxson LLP.
  12. Timpane, John. "Nelson Díaz on a lifetime of being 'the first Latino'". The Inquirer. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  13. "History of Firsts & Other Distinctions" (PDF). Lincoln University.
  14. Chenault, Renee (January 1, 1981). "Pennsylvanians on the Bench: Profiles of Black Judges" (PDF). Black Law Journal.
  15. Haddon, Phoebe A. (Fall 2010). "A Public Calling: Lessons from the Lives of Judge of Color in Pennsylvania". Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review. 20:1.
  16. "Theodore O. Spaulding". The New York Times. 1974-09-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  17. Yuan, Winston. "Marutani Fellowship". www.apaba-pa.org. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  18. Muto, David (2016-11-17). "An Unsung Hero in the Story of Interracial Marriage". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
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  20. "The Indomitable Emigre: Judge Eduardo C. Robreno - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  21. "Mazzoni Center Legal Services Honors Two Trailblazing Philadelphia Judges and the Firm of Dechert LLP at 4th Annual Open Bar Event". Mazzoni Center. 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
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  25. "Obituary: Paul A. Simmons / First black federal judge in area known as trailblazer". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  26. Jr., Henry Louis Gates. "Who Were the 1st Black Federal Court Judges?". The Root. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  27. "Obituary: Gary L. Lancaster / First black chief judge in U.S. court here". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  28. Eagle, Reading (2018-08-02). "New chief judge named for U.S. District Court". Reading Eagle. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  29. "After 14 months, Senate finally approves Phila. judge". Philly.com. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  30. "Pennsylvania Set To Elect First Openly Gay State Lawmaker". HuffPost. 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
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  32. "Michael Reed". www.alumni.temple.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
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  39. "Chester County Judge Sanchez joins the federal bench in Pa". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 10, 2004. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  40. "Editorial: Justice for Alexander McClay Williams". Retrieved 2017-09-24.
  41. "Noteworthy Pocono deaths in 2012". poconorecord.com. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  42. Gibbons, Margaret. "Montco welcomes new judge to bench". The Intelligencer. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  43. Fotikfoti, Kaitlyn. "Montgomery County swears in first openly gay judge". Montgomery News. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  44. Gibbons, Margaret. "Ferman gets most votes for judge's robe in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas race". The Intelligencer. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  45. "Quilt show to honor famous Western New Yorker". The Daily News. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  46. Societies, Pennsylvania Federation of Historical (1917). Acts and Proceedings ... Annual Meeting. Harrisburg Publishing Company.
  47. Jr, Robert Mcg Thomas (1997-06-05). "Bernard G. Segal Dies at 89; Lawyer for Rich and Poor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  48. "Book celebrates York County's historic legal luminaries". The York Daily Record. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
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