This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Montana. 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 Montana's history
Law School
First female law graduate: Edna Rankin McKinnon (1919)
Lawyers
First female: Ella Knowles Haskell (1888) First Native American (Crow Nation) female: Mary Frances Garrigus (c. 1918)
Law Clerk
First female to clerk for a Supreme Court of Montana justice: Betty Ann Sias (1945)
State judges
First female (Thirteenth Judicial District): Diane Barz (1968) in 1978
First Native American (Navajo) female elected (justice court): Joey Jayne
First female (Montana Supreme Court): Diane Barz (1968) in 1989
First female (youngest): Shannen Rossmiller in 2000
First female (Chief Justice; Montana Supreme Court): Karla M. Gray (1976) in 2000 First female (Twelfth Judicial District): Kaydee Snipes Ruiz (2011) in 2019
Federal judges
First female (federal magistrate): Carolyn Ostby (1981) in 2002
First female (U.S. District Court of Montana): Susan P. Watters (1988) in 2014
Assistant Attorney General
First female: Ella Knowles Haskell (1888) in 1893
United States Attorney
First female: Doris S. Poppler (1948) in 1990
County Attorney
First female: Emily E. Sloan (1919) in 1924
State Bar of Montana
First female admitted: Edna Rankin McKinnon (1919) First female president: Sherry Matteucci
Firsts in local history
Karen Townsend: First female elected as a Judge of the Fourth Judicial District (2011) [Missoula and Mineral Counties, Montana] Kitty Curtis: First female judge in Flathead County, Montana (1994) Deborah Kim Christopher: First female to serve as the Lake County Attorney, Montana (1991) Jennifer Boatwright-Lint: First female to serve as a district court judge in Ravalli County, Montana (2018)