Happy Women’s History Month CLA Members and Friends

March 2025

By Terrance J. Evans
CLA Chair

It is often said that women are the backbone of society.  Without women, there would be no society at all.  I was raised by a beautiful strong Black woman who instilled in me the values that have guided me throughout my life.  I have also been mentored by numerous wise women of all different backgrounds who have invested in me and guided me throughout my academic and professional journey.  As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I would like to recognize a few women who have made important contributions to the legal profession in California and throughout the United States.

Clara Shortridge Foltz – First Woman Lawyer In California

Clara Shortridge Foltz was the first female attorney in California.  In 1875, after moving to San Jose with her husband and five children, her husband left her for another woman. She decided that she wanted to become a lawyer to earn a better living to support herself and her children.  Unfortunately, there was one problem; California Code Provision, C.C.P 275, which limited the practice of law in California to applicants who were at least 21 years old, White, male, and citizens of good moral character who possessed the necessary learned and ability.  

Foltz decided that this restriction on who could apply to become an attorney in California needed to change.  She had two options; she could fight to open the door for White women or she could fight to open the door of opportunity for all women and all men of all races and ethnic backgrounds.  Ms. Foltz opted for the later approach.  Id.

She and fellow suffragist Laura deForce Gordon drafted the “Woman Lawyer’s Bill,” substituting “any citizen or person” for “any white male citizen” in the California Code Provision, C.C.P. 275. If passed, the bill would thereby permit women to practice law.  The bill passed by two votes, with a final count of 37 to 35 on March 29, 1878. However, it appeared the bill was set to die on Governor William Irwin’s desk if he did not sign it by midnight April 1, 1878. Unwilling to give up, Foltz slipped past two guards, entered Governor Irwin’s office and persuaded him to sign before the pending midnight deadline.  Id.

The Women’s Lawyer Bill paved the way for White Women and all People of Color to practice law in California.  Foltz passed a three-hour oral bar exam on September 4, 1878, to become California’s first female lawyer. The next day, Foltz was admitted to the California State Bar.  Id.

Annie Virginia Stephens Coker – First Black Woman Lawyer In California

Annie Virginia Stephens Coker was the first Black woman to pass the California Bar Exam, after graduating from what is now UC Berkeley Law School in 1929.  In the 1930’s most law firms in California were not hiring Black or Women attorneys.  As such, Ms. Stephens Coker moved to Alexandria, Virginia and had a private law practice there for almost ten years. As opportunities improved, she returned to California in 1939 and joined the State Office of Legislative Counsel as junior deputy legislative counsel. Remembered as an inspiring presence, she worked there until her retirement in 1966 and died at the age of 83 in 1986. 

Chiyoko Sakamoto Takahashi – First Asian Woman Lawyer In California

Chiyoko Sakamoto Takahashi was the first Asian woman lawyer in California.  She was admitted to practice in California in 1938 after graduating from the American University Washington College of Law in Los Angeles, California.  She worked for several years as a legal assistant after being admitted to the California Bar, because she was unable to find a law firm willing to hire an Asian woman as an attorney.  

During World War II, Sakamoto was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp.  Upon being released in 1947, she struggled yet again with finding employment. Through her struggles, she met Harvard University-educated African-American attorney Hugh E. Macbeth Sr., who was a staunch defender of Japanese-Americans. He hired Sakamoto as an associate at his Los Angeles-based law firm. Sakamoto’s coworkers included Eva M. Mack, a lawyer who worked with Macbeth Sr. on the California Supreme Court case Davis vs. Carter that pertained to a housing discrimination suit filed by jazz musician Benny Carter. At the time, Sakamoto was unique in working for a non-Nisei law firm. Id.

She eventually opened her own law firm in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and was one of the founders of the Japanese-American Bar Association and the California Women’s Bar. Sakamoto’s husband, Tohru Takahashi,] was a farmer in New Mexico, and they owned various farms in California (she even managed some of them while simultaneously taking on cases).  Sakamoto died in 1994.  Id.

Mary Virginia Orozco – First Latina Woman Lawyer In California

Mary Virginia Orozco was the first Latina woman lawyer in California.  She was also the first Latina to graduate from Loyola Law School.  She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1962 as the state’s first Latina lawyer.  Although the Spanish-speaking community as her major focus, Orozco set out to establish a legal practice that specialized in family, civil and criminal law. She eventually established the law firm Orozco & Orozco with her twin brother Hector. Orozco overcame both racial and sex discrimination while practicing in the California courtrooms.  In 1962, Orozco was a founder of the Mexican American Bar Association (MABA) in Los Angeles and was a founding member for the Latina Lawyers Bar Association. She retired from practicing law in 1987.  Orozco died on June 5, 2019.  

Chief Judge Abby Abinanti – First Native American Woman Lawyer In California

In 1974, Abby Abinanti became the first Native American woman admitted to the State Bar of California. In 1994, she was appointed a commissioner of the San Francisco Superior Court, which made her the first California tribal person to serve as a judicial officer of the state.  During her 17-year career with the San Francisco Superior Court, she worked out of United Family Law Division, handling mostly juvenile dependency and delinquency cases.  In the 1980s and 1990s, she held judicial appointments with the Hoopa Valley, Colorado River, Shoshone-Bannock and Hopi people. She has been chief judge of the Yurok since 2007. 

Judge Georgia Bullock – First Woman Superior Court Judge in California

Georgia Bullock was the first woman Superior Court Judge in California.  She earned her LL.B. from the University of Southern California’s law school in 1914, having already passed the California bar. While still in law school, she began her judicial career by volunteering as a probation officer on the Woman’s Court, a division of the Los Angeles Police Court that dealt with female defendants. In 1917, she became a deputy district attorney, prosecuting prostitutes and their clients during World War I. She later moved into private practice.  In 1924, Bullock was named by county supervisors to the Women’s Court, becoming the first female judge in California above the level of justice of the peace. 

In 1926, following a reorganization of the state judiciary, she became a Los Angeles municipal judge. In 1927, she ran against and beat a male opponent to retain her position. In 1928, she ran for superior court but lost. In 1931, Republican governor James Rolph Jr. appointed her to a vacant seat on the court, making Bullock the second woman in the country to sit on a court of general jurisdiction. She was repeatedly reelected to her seat in elections in 1932, 1938, 1944, and 1950. She retired in 1956. Id.

Justice Vaino Spencer First Black Woman Judge In California

Vaino Spencer was the first Black woman appointed to a judgeship in California.  She practiced as a lawyer in Los Angeles. In 1961, she was appointed as a municipal court judge in Los Angeles, the first black woman in California appointed to a judgeship. In 1976, she became a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, and in 1980 she was named a Presiding Judge of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division One. She retired in 2007, after a distinguished 46-year career on the bench, as “one of the longest-serving judges in California history. 

She was the third Black woman in California to pass the State Bar exam and the third to open a law practice in Los Angeles. However, it was her appointment to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1961 that confirmed her status as a true pioneer—when she became California’s first Black woman judge, and the third in the nation. Governor Jerry Brown appointed Spencer to the Superior Court in 1976, and four years later he elevated her to the Court of Appeal.   She was a founding member of the Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles, Inc. in 1975, and the National Association of Women Judges in 1979.  

Notably, I received a bar scholarship from the Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles, Inc. that had a profound impact on my legal career.

Sandra Day O’Connor: First Woman Justice on U.S. Supreme Court

In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, and served as the first woman associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.  During her term on the Court, O’Connor was regarded as among the most influential women in the world.   After retiring, she succeeded Henry Kissinger as the chancellor of the College of William & Mary. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.  

Constance Baker Motley – First Black Woman Federal Judge

Constance Baker Motley was a key strategist of the Civil Rights Movement, she was state senator, and Borough President of Manhattan in New York City before becoming a United States federal judge. She obtained a role with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a staff attorney in 1946 after receiving her law degree, and continued her work with the organization for more than twenty years.  

She was the first Black woman to argue at the Supreme Court and argued 10 landmark civil rights cases, winning nine. She was a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall, aiding him in the case Brown v. Board of Education.  Motley was also the first African-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary, serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Id.

Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson – First Black Woman Justice On U.S. Supreme Court

Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson is the first Black woman and the first public defender to serve on the United States Supreme Court.  She served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014.  She served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from 2013 to 2021. She served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2021 to 2022.  Finally, she was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court and sworn in 2022.  

There are so many other amazing women who I wish that I could include in this article, but then I would have to write a book.  I hope this small bit of women’s legal history inspires you to learn more about the important contributions of women to the legal profession.  Please take a moment to acknowledge the amazing women in your life.  None of us would be here without them.