List of first women lawyers and judges in Alabama

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Alabama. 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 obtain a law degree or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history
Maud McClure Kelly: First female lawyer in Alabama (1908)

Law degree holders

Lawyers

Judges
  • Virginia Henry Mayfield:[4][5] First female judge in Alabama (1923)
  • Faya Ora Rose Touré:[6][7] First African American female judge in Alabama
  • Deborah Biggers (1975):[8] First female (and African American female) elected as a state court judge in Alabama (2014)[9]
  • Phyllis S. Nesbit:[10][11] First female elected as a trial judge in Alabama (1976)
Probate Court
  • Earlean Isaac:[12] First African American female to become a probate judge in Alabama (1989)

District Court
  • Sharon Lovelace Blackburn:[13] First female appointed as a district court judge in Alabama (1991)
  • Shannon Clark:[14] First female appointed as a Judge of the Twelfth District in Alabama (2011)

Circuit Court
  • Inge Prytz Johnson (1973):[4] First female appointed as a Judge of the Circuit Court (1978)
  • Kimberly Clark (1996):[15][16] First female appointed as a Judge of the Thirty-Third Judicial Circuit in Alabama (2015)

Appellate Court

Supreme Court
  • Janie Shores (1959):[4] First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama (1974)
  • Sue Bell Cobb (1981):[19] First female justice appointed as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (2006)

Attorney General

United States Attorney

Assistant United States Attorney

District Attorneys
  • Janice Clardy:[22] First female to serve as a District Attorney in Alabama (1985)
  • Lynneice Washington (1996):[23][24] First African American female to become a District Attorney in Alabama (2017)

Assistant District Attorney
  • Judith "Judy" Crittenden (1970):[25][26] First female to become an Assistant District Attorney in Alabama

Political Office
  • Terri Sewell (1994) and Martha Roby (c. 2001):[27][28] First females (both lawyers) elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama (2010). Sewell has the added distinction of being the first African American female elected to Congress.

Bar Association
  • Alyce Manley:[29] First female to become President of the Alabama State Bar Association (2010)

Firsts in local history

Alphabetized by county name

Autauga County
  • Janice Clardy:[22] First female to serve as a District Attorney in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama (1985) [Autauga, Chilton and Elmore Counties, Alabama]

Baldwin County
  • Phyllis S. Nesbit:[10][11] First female elected as a Judge of the Baldwin County District Court (1976). She was also the first female President of the Baldwin County Bar Association, Alabama (1966-1967).

Blount County

Chilton County
  • Janice Clardy:[22] First female to serve as a District Attorney in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama (1985) [Autauga, Chilton and Elmore Counties, Alabama]

Coffee County

Conecuh County

Covington County

Cullman County

Dale County

Elmore County
  • Janice Clardy:[22] First female to serve as a District Attorney in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama (1985) [Autauga, Chilton and Elmore Counties, Alabama]

Geneva County

Greene County
  • Earlean Isaac:[12] First African American female to become a Judge of the Greene County Probate Court in Alabama (1989)

Houston County

Jefferson County
  • Nina Miglionico:[34] First female (a lawyer) to become a member of the Birmingham City Council (1963) [Jefferson County, Alabama]
  • Judith "Judy" Crittenden (1970):[25][26] First female to become an Assistant District Attorney in Jefferson County, Alabama
  • Agnes Chappell (1977):[35] First African American female lawyer in Jefferson County, Alabama. She would later become a judge.
  • Helen Shores Lee (1987):[36] First African American female to become a Judge of the Civil Division of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County (2003)
  • Kira Fonteneau:[37] First (African American) female to head the then newly-created Jefferson County Public Defender Office (2012)
  • Lynneice Washington (1996):[23][24][38][39] First female (and African American female) District Attorney in Jefferson County, Alabama (2017)
  • Elisabeth French:[40] First female to serve as the Presiding Judge of the Jefferson County Court in Alabama (2020)

Lauderdale County

Lawrence County

Macon County
  • Linda W.H. Henderson:[44] First female to become President of the Macon County Bar Association (2000-2003, et. al.)

Marshall County

Mobile County

Perry County
  • Eldora Anderson:[48] First African American female (and African American in general) probate judge in Perry County, Alabama (2006)

Pike County

Randolph County

St. Clair County

Shelby County

Tuscaloosa County
  • Virginia H. Mayfield:[4][5] First female judge in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama (1923)
  • Jane Kimbrough Dishuck (1947):[53] First female lawyer in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
  • Mabey Yerby Lawson:[54][55] First female to earn a law degree from the University of Alabama [Tuscaloosa County, Alabama]

Wilcox County

See also

Other topics of interest

References
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  4. "Women in the Judiciary" (PDF). Court News. August 1984.
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