This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Idaho. 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 Idaho's history
Lawyers
First female: Helen Young (1895) First female prosecutor: Kate E. Nevile Feltham (1914) in 1926 First female to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Mazellah (M.) Pearl McCall (1919) in 1924 First female to argue a case before the Supreme Court of Idaho: Adelyne Martha Burrus Champers (1927) in 1929 First Japanese American female: Rei Kihara Osaki (1943) First Hispanic American female: Joanne P. Rodriguez (1983) First African American female: Ida Leggett (1986) First Native American (Cherokee/Shoshone) female: Cassandra Lee Furr Dunn (1974)
Law Clerks
First female to clerk for the Supreme Court of Idaho: Mary Schmitt (1940) in 1941 First female to clerk for the U.S. District Court in Idaho: Ina Mae Wheeler Hanford (1952) in 1952
State judges
First female (non-attorney judge): Margaret Geisler in 1939
First female: Mary Jensen Smith Oldham (1935) in 1945
First female (youngest at time of her appointment): Zoe Ann Warberg Shaub (1960) in 1961 First female (state magistrate): Linda Cook (1973) in 1976 First female (district court): Deborah A. Bail (1975) in 1983 First female (Third Judicial District Court): Juneal Kerrick (1981) in 1987 First female (Idaho Court of Appeals): Cathy Silak (1976) in 1990 First African American (female): Ida Leggett (1986) in 1992 First female (Idaho Supreme Court): Linda Copple Trout (1977) in 1992 First female (Idaho Supreme Court; Chief Justice): Linda Copple Trout (1977) in 1997
Federal judges
First female (United States District Court for the District of Idaho): Candy Dale in 2008
Deputy Attorney General
First female (Deputy Assistant): Susan Maria Flandro (1968) in 1968
United States Attorney
First female: Betty H. Richardson (1982) from 1993-2001
Assistant United States Attorney
First female: Mary Hobson in 1978
Prosecuting Attorney
First female: Kate E. Nevile Feltham (1914) in 1926
Idaho State Bar Association
First female president: Kaye O'Riordan in 1988
Firsts in local history
Mary Elizabeth Schmitt (1940): First female lawyer in south-central Idaho (specifically Canyon County, Idaho) Karen Jean Orndorff Vehlow (1975): First female appointed as a Deputy Prosecutor (1975) and magistrate (1977) in Ada County, Idaho Jan M. Bennetts: First female Prosecuting Attorney for Ada County, Idaho (2014) Barbara Buchanan: First female district court judge in Bonner County, Idaho (2013) Stacey DePew: First female judge in Jerome County, Idaho (2018) Alberta Morton Phillips (1941): First female to teach law at the University of Idaho [Latah County, Idaho] Mary Jensen Smith Oldham (1935): First female lawyer in Rexburg, Idaho [Madison County, Idaho] Kate E. Nevile Feltham (1914): First female Prosecuting Attorney for Washington County, Idaho (1926)