List of first women lawyers and judges in North America
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This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in North America (a separate list is devoted to the United States). It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the first women in their country to achieve a certain distinction such as graduating from law school.
Theresa Croes-Fernandes Pedra:[17] First Aruban (female) to serve as a Judge of the Common Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (1995)
Helen Lejuez:[18] First female prosecutor in Aruba, as well as the first female to serve as the Acting Attorney General of Aruba
Stephanie Unwala:[27] First female magistrate in The Bahamas (1977)
Janet Bostwick (1971):[28][29] First female lawyer to become the Attorney General of The Bahamas (1995-2001). She was also the first female to serve as the President of The Bahamas Bar Association (1980).
Marie McCormack (1971):[37][38] First female judge (1971) and Judge of the High Court (1995) in Barbados
Shirley Bell (1972):[2] First female to serve as a Chief Magistrate in Barbados (1991)
Sandra Mason (1975):[35][39][40] First Barbadian woman admitted to the Barbados Bar Association. She was the first female appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal (2008), as well as the first female magistrate appointed as an Ambassador from Barbados.
Beverley Walrond (1974):[41][42] First female to serve as the President of the Barbados Bar Association
Lisa Shoman (1988):[50] First female appointed as a Judge of the Inter-American Development Bank's Tribunal (2017). She was also the first female to serve as the President of the Bar Association of Belize (1996).
Marga Domingo-Van Lieshout (2006):[52] First female registered to practice law in the Order of Lawyers Bonaire (Orde van Advocaten van Bonaire; founded in 2004)
Virginia Martén Pagés:[53] First female lawyer to obtain the title of notary public in Costa Rica (1947)
Ofelia Vincenzi Peñaranda:[54] First female to serve as a juvenile public defender in Costa Rica
María Eugenia Vargas Solera:[55][56][57] First female judge in Costa Rica (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Juvenile Protection of Costa Rica in 1956)
Ana María Breedy Jalet:[58] First female to serve as an Alternate Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (1975), as well as the first female to preside over the Full Court
Ana Virginia Calzada-Miranda:[60] First female to serve as a magistrate of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica (1993) and its President (2008)
Sara Esther Fernández Concepción and Maria del Carmen Herrero Rodriguez:[82] First females to serve as Judges of the People's Supreme Court of Cuba (1973)
Gisèle Veen-Jonkhout:[88] First female to serve as a prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Curaçao (2010)
Mary Eugenia Charles (1949):[89] First female lawyer in Dominica. She later served as the President of the Dominica Bar Association during the 1970s, and may have been the first female to do so.[90][91]
Zoila Martínez (1967):[105] First female appointed as Prosecutor of the National District in the Dominican Republic (1995)
Rhadys Abreu de Polanco:[105] First Dominican Republic female elected as a Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (2006)
Mabel Ybelca Féliz Báez:[102] First female to serve as a Judge of the Superior Electoral Court of the Dominican Republic (2011)
Ana Isabel Bonilla Hernandez and Katia Miguelina Jiménez Martínez:[108] First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic (2011)
Alma Paredes Delgado:[110] First El Salvadorean female to become a lawyer, though her studies were in Mexico and her other pursuits included journalism
María García Herrera de Jovel (1944):[111][112] First female to graduate as a lawyer in El Salvador
Noemí Arias Avilés:[112] First female appointed as a Judge of the First Instance in El Salvador (1959)
Miriam Geraldine Aldana Revelo:[117] First (female) Judge of the Courts of Extinction of Domain (2004)
Carmen Elena Rivas Landaverde:[118] First female to serve as the President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of El Salvador (c. 2018)
Agnete Weis Bentzon:[119] First female lawyer to perform a legal expedition in Greenland (the result of which led to the creation of a criminal law system in Greenland). She served as a judge in Greenland from 1963 to 1964. Prior to the expedition, she had the distinction of being Denmark's first female professor of law.
Luz Castillo Díaz-Ordaz de Villagrán:[138] First female to graduate as a lawyer in Guatemala (1927), though she could not exercise the profession until the 1940s
Eunice Lima Schaul (c. 1953):[140] First female called to the Guatemalan Bar Association
Ana Maria Rosa Vargas de Ortiz:[141][142][143] First female judge in Guatemala (1960)
María Luisa Beltranena de Padilla:[144][145] First female to serve as a Magistrate and the President (Post-Serranazo; 1993) of the Supreme Court of Guatemala
Georgette Justin (1933):[153][154][155] First female lawyer in Haiti
Ertha Pascal-Trouillot (1971[156]):[157][158][159][160] First female judge in Haiti (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Court of First Instance in 1979). She was also the first female appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal (1985) and the Supreme Court of Haiti (Court of Cassation; 1986). From 1990-1991, she was the first female to serve as the Provisional Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Haiti.[161]
Nonie H. Mathieu:[162] First female to serve as the President of the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes of Haiti (2009)
Marie Suzy Legros:[163] First female elected to serve as a Bâtonnière (l’ordre des avocats de Port-au-Prince) in Haiti (2020)
Anny Belinda Ochoa:[170] First female to serve as the President of the Honduran Bar Association (2018)
Lily Tai Ten Quee (1934):[171][172] First female Chinese barrister in Jamaica
Daisy Lucille Chambers (1948): First female lawyer in Jamaica[173][174]
Ena Joyce Collymore-Woodstock (1947; Bar's Gray Inn, England):[174][175][176] First female judge in Jamaica (upon her appointment as the Resident Magistrate in 1959). She was also the first female appointed as the Clerk of the Courts (1950).
Ena Blanche Allen (1953):[174][175][178] First female in Jamaica appointed as a Puisne Justice for the Supreme Court (1975)
Marjory "Madge" Morgan (1961):[174][175][179] First female Judge of the Court of Appeal in Jamaica (1988)
Paula Llewellyn:[180] First female to serve as the Director of Public Prosecutions (1999) and Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (2003) in Jamaica
Remedios Albertina Ezeta Uribe (1933):[204][205][206] First female judge (civil and criminal) in Mexico (c. 1940s)
María Lavalle Urbina (1944):[207][208][209] First female appointed as a Judge of the Superior Court of the District and Federal Territories (1947). She later became the first female President of the Senate of Mexico.
Dolores Hedúan Virués:[210] First female appointed as a Magistrate of the Tax Court of the Federation (1947)
Marisela Morales:[217] First female appointed as the Attorney General of Mexico (2011)
Claudia Elena de Buen Unna:[218] First female to serve as the vice-president (2019) and President (2021) of the Mexican Bar Association, B.C. (Barra Mexicana, Colegio De Abogados, A.C.)
Catalina Rojas and Joaquina Vega:[226][227][228] First female judges in Nicaragua (1948-1949). Vega would later become the first female district court judge in Nicaragua (c. 1964).[229]
Vilma Núñez de Escorcia:[230][231][232] First female to serve as a Judge and Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Nicaragua (1979)
Doña Alba Luz Ramos:[234] First female judge to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Nicaragua (2017)
Becky McCrea:[235] First Rama (female) lawyer in Nicaragua
Clara Gonzalez (1925):[236] First female lawyer in Panama. She later became the first female Judge of the Juvenile Justice Court when it was created in 1951.[237]
Alma Montenegro de Fletcher:[238][239] First female to serve as a notary public and prosecutor in Panama
Marisol Milantia Reyes de Vásquez (c. 1958):[240][241] First female appointed as a Magistrate (1974) and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama (1985)
Graciela Dixon:[240][242] First Black female justice appointed as the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama (2005)
Arlene Magdalene Fraites-Gomez (1962):[250] First female lawyer called to the Bar of Saint Kitts and Nevis (then "St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla"); also called to the Bar of Antigua and Barbuda and to the Bar of England and Wales (1962)
Marie Grace Augustin, a St. Lucian who studied law, was on the verge of becoming the first female lawyer in the Commonwealth Caribbean in 1923. Augustin was denied the ability to take the bar exam that year, however, and so she entered the business industry instead.[2][253]
Suzie d'Auvergne (c. 1975):[6][256][257][258] First female magistrate (c. 1980) and judge in Saint Lucia (upon her appointment as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in 1990). She was also Saint Lucia's first female Director of Public Prosecutions (1982) and Solicitor General (1988).[259]
Lorraine Bernadine Williams:[260][261][262] First female to serve as the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs for Saint Lucia (1992). In 2001, she became the first female to serve as the President of the Saint Lucia Bar Association.
Nicole Sylvester:[13] First female to serve as the President of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Association (c. 2007)
Mona Rigsby James (1939):[275] First native-born female lawyer in Trinidad and Tobago
Wendy Punnett-Hope:[276] First female appointed as the Acting Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago (1970-1977). Brenda Paray-Durity later became the first permanent female Registrar.
Marie Elizabeth Bourne-Hollands:[276][277] First female judge in Trinidad and Tobago (upon her appointment as a Judge of the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago in 1972). She was also the first female lawyer in Barbados.
Monica Barnes:[278] First female from Trinidad and Tobago to be admitted to the Inner Bar and made a Senior Counsel (1979)
Occah Seepaul (1964):[276][277] First female appointed as the Master of the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago (1986-1993)
Gladys Seedansingh Gafoor (1962):[2] First female to serve as the Director of Public Prosecutions in Trinidad and Tobago (c. 1987)
Morean Phillip:[279] First female appointed as the President of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (1989)
Jean A. Permanand (1962):[276][280] First female appointed as a Judge of the Appeal Court of Trinidad and Tobago (1993-2004).She was also the first female lawyer to become the Solicitor General in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1980s.
Pemberton was resident in Saint Lucia, but had assignments in Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with short stints in Saint Kitts and Nevis (then named Saint Christopher) and Antigua and Barbuda. She was elevated to High Court Judge in 2003.
Jurídicos, Carlos Arguedas C. Periodista en la sección de Sucesos Trabaja en La Nación desde el 2000 siempre en la cobertura de asuntos de Sucesos y (10 December 2013). "Presidenta de la Sala I Anabelle León Feoli deja cargo para jubilarse". La Nación, Grupo Nación (in Latin American Spanish). Retrieved 18 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Trotman-Joseph, Avril A. (April 2014). "National review: Grenada"(PDF). Division for Gender Affairs of Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on the way to Beijing+20. Archived from the original(PDF) on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2018.