This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Minnesota. 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 state history
Law School
Sothea Phea Poch: First Cambodian (female) to graduate from a Minnesota law school (upon her graduation from the Hamline University Law School in 1999) Maureen Onyelobi: First (African American) female to take a law school test while incarcerated in Minnesota (2021)
Lawyers
Martha Angle Dorsett (1878): First female lawyer in Minnesota
Lena O. Smith (1921): First African American female lawyer in Minnesota
Margaret Treuer (1977): First Native American (Ojibwe) (female) lawyer in Minnesota. She would later become a tribal judge. Ilean Her and Pacyinz Lyfoung (1994): First Hmong American female lawyers in Minnesota Lola Velazquez-Aguilu: First Latino American female to serve as the Chair of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection Amran Farah (2013): Reputed to be the first Somali American (female) to make partner at a major Minnesota law firm (2020)
State judges
Eleanor Nolan: First female to briefly serve as a municipal court judge in Minnesota (1940) Betty Whitlock Washburn: First female judge in Minnesota (1950) Ruth Brown, LeSueur County Court Gail Murray, St. Louis County Court Susanne C. Sedgwick: First female to serve on a Minnesota trial court, Hennepin County District Court (1974) second woman to serve as a municipal judge (1970) defeating an incumbent, and one of the first women to serve on the newly-created Minnesota Court of Appeals (1983) Rosalie E. Wahl: First female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (1977) Harriet Lansing, Ramsey County Municipal Court (1978), one of first two women on the newly-created Minnesota Court of Appeals (1983) Pamela Alexander: First African American female judge in Minnesota (1983) Isabel Gomez: First Hispanic American female judge in Minnesota (1984) Linda S. Titus (1978): First female to serve on the Fifth Judicial District in Minnesota (1990) Leslie Metzen (1979): First female to serve on the First Judicial District in Minnesota Natalie Hudson: First African American female to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2002) Regina Chu: First Asian American female judge in Minnesota (2002) Susan N. Burke: First Japanese American (female) judge in Minnesota (2004) Wilhelmina Wright (1998): First African American female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2012) Margaret Chutich (1984): First openly LGBT female to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2016) Anne McKeig (1992): First Native American (Ojibwe) [female] to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2016) Sophia Vuelo (1999): First Hmong American female judge in Minnesota (2017) Sarah Wheelock: First Native American (Meskwaki Nation female) to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2021) Natalie Hudson: First African American (female) to serve as the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (2023)
Federal judges
Margaret Treuer (1977): First Native American (Ojibwe) female to serve as a U.S. Magistrate for the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (1983) Margaret A. Mahoney: First female to serve on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota (1984) Diana E. Murphy: First female federal judge in Minnesota (1994)
Attorney General
Lori Swanson: First female Attorney General of Minnesota (2007)
Assistant Attorney General
Nilushi Ranaweera: First Sri Lankan American female to serve as an Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota (2019)
Deputy Attorney General
Luz María Frías: First Latino American female to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of Minnesota
Solicitor General
Cathy Haukedahl (1979): First female Solicitor General of Minnesota
United States Attorney
Rachel Paulose (1997): First Indian American female to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota (2006)
County Attorney
Mary P. Walbran (1937): First female to serve as a County Attorney in Minnesota (1943) Helen Hill Bianz and Susan Grimsley: First females elected as County Attorneys in Minnesota (1977-1978)
Assistant County Attorney
Phyllis Jean Jones: First female to serve as an Assistant County Attorney in Minnesota