List of first women lawyers and judges in Maine explained

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

• First female law graduate: Velma Peabody in 1938^[1]

Lawyers

• First female: Clara Hapgood Nash (1872)^[2]
• First female (employed by Maine legislature): Gail Laughlin in 1913
• First female to argue case before Law Court: Alice Parker in 1932
• First female prosecutor: Suzanne E.K. Smith in 1972
• First Penobscot female: Jill E. Tompkins (1989)
• First Passamaquoddy female: Tina M. Farrenkopf (1997)
• First Wabanaki female: Sherri Mitchell:

State judges

• First female (district court): Harriet Henry in 1973^{[3] [4]}
• First female (superior court): Jessie Briggs Gunther in 1976^{[5] [6]}
• First female (law court Maine Supreme Judicial Court): Caroline Duby Glassman in 1983 for the latter court
• First female (Chief Justice; Maine Supreme Judicial Court): Leigh Saufley in 2001

Federal judges

• First female (federal judge): Margaret “Peggy” Kravchuk^[7]
• First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Maine): Nancy Torresen (1987) in 2011^[8]

• First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2008

Deputy Attorney General

• First female (Chief Deputy Attorney General of Maine): Vendean Vafiades^[9]

District Attorney

• First female: Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 1980

Political Office

• First female (Governor of Maine): Janet Mills (c. 1976) in 2018^{[10] [11]}
• First Latino American female (Deputy Secretary of State for Maine): Joann Bautista in 2021^[12]

United States Attorney

• First female (interim): Paula D. Silsby in 2001^[13]
• First female (permanent): Darcie N. McElwee in 2021

• First female: Phyllis Givertz (1974) around 1983^{[14] [15]}

Firsts in local history

• Janet Mills (c. 1976): First female to serve as a District Attorney in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties, Maine (1980)
• Natasha Irving:^[16] First female District Attorney for Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo Counties, Maine (2019)
• Jessie Briggs Gunther: First female to serve as a Judge of the Androscoggin County Superior Court, Maine
• Adeline Bond Rines (1914):^[17] First female lawyer in Cumberland County, Maine
• Sigrid E. Tompkins:^[18] First female to serve as the President of the Cumberland County Bar Association, Maine (1974)
• Stephanie Anderson:^[19] First female District Attorney for Cumberland County, Maine
• Paula Sawyer: First female to graduate from the University of Maine School of Law (1968) [<nowiki/>[[Cumberland County, Maine]]]
• Agnes Robinson (1900):^[20] First female lawyer in Franklin County, Maine
• Iola S. Kearney (1920):^[21] First female lawyer in Augusta, Maine [Kennebec County, Maine]]
• Shirley Cogswell: First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Pleasant Point – Passamaquoddy Tribal Court (1980) [<nowiki/>[[Washington County, Maine]]]

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• Timeline of women lawyers in the United States
• Women in law

Other topics of interest

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Maine

References

1. Bissonette . Nicole R. . Day . Katie . Chardon . Alexis Garmey . 2021 . Women Lawyers in Maine: 150 Years and Counting . Maine Bar Journal . 36.
2. Web site: women Maine: An Encyclopedia. maineanencyclopedia.com. 2016-10-06.
3. Book: Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. 1985. U.S. Government Printing Office.
4. Book: Pogrebin, Letty Cottin. Getting Yours: How to Make the System Work for the Working Woman. 1975-01-01. McKay. 9780679505617.
5. Web site: Former court justice becomes part-time DA. Archive. en-US. 2018-12-31.
6. Web site: Youngest judge appointed in Maine retires after 32 years on the bench. Bangor Daily News. en-US. 2018-12-31.
7. Web site: UNE honors Bangor federal judge. Archive. en-US. 2018-12-31.
8. News: First woman sworn in as U.S. District Court judge in Maine. Bangor Daily News. 2018-01-20.
9. Web site: Board of Directors . 2022-06-03 . Elmina B. Sewall . en-US.
10. Web site: Office of the Maine AG: Biography of Attorney General Janet T. Mills. www.maine.gov. en. 2018-11-07.
11. News: Analysis The historic firsts of the 2018 midterms. Washington Post. en. 2018-11-07.
12. Web site: 2021-02-12 . Joann Bautista ’18 hired as deputy secretary of state for Maine . 2022-03-04 . MaineLaw . en.
13. Web site: Office of the Maine AG: News & Reports. www.maine.gov. 2018-12-31.
14. Web site: Featured Alumna - Phyllis Givertz '69 (COLLEGE CONNECTIONS - THE COLLEGE OF ARTS, HUMANITIES, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES NEWSLETTER). Winter 2017. University of Southern Maine.
15. Book: Down East. 1983. Down East Enterprise. en.
16. Web site: History made when Irving sworn in as Midcoast's top prosecutor - By Stephen Betts . 2019-03-25 . waldo.villagesoup.com.
17. Book: Thompson, Frederic L.. The Rines Family Legacy. 2005. Arcadia Publishing. 9780738538822.
18. Web site: SIGRID E. TOMPKINS. Bangor Daily News. en-US. 2019-01-02.
19. Web site: About Stephanie Anderson: Office of the District Attorney. Cumberland County, Maine.
20. Web site: Women who blazed the trail in Maine law Daily Bulldog. www.dailybulldog.com. 2018-12-31.
21. Web site: Women's History Trail : Augusta Maine. dll.umaine.edu. 2017-10-13.