List of first women lawyers and judges in Tennessee-Cedar Herald Index

This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Tennessee. 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 Tennessee's history

Law School

First (African American) female law graduate: Lutie Lytle in 1897

Lawyers

First (African American) female: Lutie Lytle (1897) First female (actively practice): Marion Scudder Griffin (1907) First female to argue before the Tennessee Court of Civil Appeals: Frances Wolf (1907)

List of first women lawyers and judges in Tennessee

State judges

First female: Camille Kelley in 1920

First female (county judge): Kate M. Drake in 1931

First female (probate court): Karen Webster

First female (court of record): Martha Craig "Cissy" Daughtrey (1968) in 1975

First female (Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals): Martha Craig "Cissy" Daughtrey (1968) in 1975 First female (state trial court): Julia Smith Gibbons in 1981 First African American female: Bernice B. Donald (1979) in 1982 First female (Chancery Court): Sharon Bell in 1986 First female (Criminal Court of the First Judicial District): Lisa Niddifer Rice (1987) First female (Tennessee Supreme Court): Martha Craig "Cissy" Daughtrey (1968) in 1990 First female (First Judicial Circuit): Penny J. White in 1990 First African American female (city court): Earnestine Hunt Dorse in 1990 First African American female (criminal court): Carolyn Wade Brackett in 1994 First female (Tennessee Court of Appeals): Holly M. Kirby in 1995 First African American female (circuit court): Rita L. Stotts in 2000 First female (Chief Justice; Tennessee Supreme Court): Janice M. Holder in 2008 First African American female (Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals): Camille R. McMullen in 2008 First openly bi-sexual female: Rachel Bell around 2017 First Latino American female: Ana L. Escobar in 2018 First African American (female) (Presiding Judge; Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals): Camille R. McMullen in 2023

List of first women lawyers and judges in Tennessee

Federal judges

First African American female (Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; bankruptcy): Bernice B. Donald (1979) in 1988 First female (United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee): Aleta Arthur Trauger in 1998 First African American female (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit): Bernice B. Donald (1979) in 2011 First female (Presiding Judge; U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee): Pamela L. Reeves (1979) in 2014

List of first women lawyers and judges in Tennessee

Deputy Attorney General

First female: Patricia J. Cottrell (1976)

Assistant Attorney General

First (African American) female: Etrula T. Trotter in 1974

United States Attorney

First African American (female) (Western District of Tennessee): Veronica F. Coleman in 2001 First female (Eastern District of Tennessee): Nancy Harr

Assistant United States Attorney

Martha Craig "Cissy" Daughtrey (1968): First female to serve as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee (1968) Devon L. Gosnell: First female to serve as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee (1975)