List of first women lawyers and judges in Nebraska explained

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

Lawyers

• First female: Ada Bittenbender (1882)^[1]
• First African American female: Zanzye H.A. Hill (1929)^[2]
• First Latino American female: Olivia Guerra (1976)^{[3] [4]}

State judges

• First (African American) female: Elizabeth Davis Pittman (1949) in 1971^{[5] [6] [7]}
• First female (county court): Mary Gilbride in 1992^[8]
• First female (Nebraska Court of Appeals): Lindsey Miller-Lerman in 1992^[9]
• First female (district court): Mary Gilbride in 1998
• First female (Nebraska Supreme Court): Lindsey Miller-Lerman in 1998^[10]
• First Latino American female: Stefanie Martinez in 2013^[11]
• First Native American (female) (district court): Andrea Miller in 2018^[12]
• First African American female (district court): Tressa Alioth in 2021^[13]
• First Native American (female) to sit on a Nebraska Supreme Court case: Andrea Miller in 2022^[14]

United States Attorney

• First female: Deborah Gilg in 2009^[15]

County Attorney

• First female: Grace Ballard (1914) during the 1920s^[16]

Nebraska Bar Association

• First female president: Amy Longo (1979) in 1999^[17]

Firsts in local history

• Mary Gilbride: First female to serve as a county judge (1992) and district court judge (1998) in the Fifth Judicial District, Nebraska [<nowiki/>[[Boone County, Nebraska|Boone]], Butler, Colfax, Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk, Saunders, Seward and York Counties, Nebraska]
• Stefanie Martinez: First Latino American female to serve as a Judge of the County Court, Second Judicial District in Nebraska (2013) [<nowiki/>[[Cass County, Nebraska|Cass]], Otoe, and Sarpy Counties, Nebraska]
• Karen Ditsch (1992):^[18] First female elected County Attorney in Box Butte County, Nebraska (1999-2004)
• Frances O’Linn (1891):^{[19] [20] [21]} First female lawyer in Dawes County, Nebraska
• Elizabeth Davis Pittman (1949): First African American female to graduate from the Creighton School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska (1971). She was also the first female (and African American female) appointed to deputy on the staff of the Douglas County Attorney's Office (1964). [<nowiki/>[[Douglas County, Nebraska]]]
• Zanzye H.A. Hill (1929): First African American female law graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1929) [<nowiki/>[[Lancaster County, Nebraska|Lancaster County]], Nebraska]
• Janice Gradwohl: First female judge in Lancaster County, Nebraska (1974). She was also the first Deputy County Attorney.^[22]

Notes and References

1. Book: A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. 87. Willard. Frances Elizabeth. Livermore. Mary Ashton Rice. 1893. Moulton. en.
2. Book: Smith, J. Clay Jr.. Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844–1944. 1999-01-01. University of Pennsylvania Press. 0812216857. en.
3. Atencio . Dolores S. . 2023 . Luminarias: An Empirical Portrait of the First Generation of Latina Lawyers 1880-1980 . Chicanx Latinx Law Review . en . 39 . 1 . 10.5070/cllr.v39i1.61869 . 1061-8899.
4. Shavers . Anna Williams . 2023 . Fifty Years of the UNL College of Law Multicultural Legal Society . Nebraska Law Review . 101 . 2.
5. News: Fuller sense of our history. Omaha.com. 2017-09-18. en.
6. Book: Smith, Jessie Carney. Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. 2012-12-01. Visible Ink Press. 9781578594245. en.
7. Book: Gless, Alan G.. The History of Nebraska Law. 2008. Ohio University Press. 9780821417874. en.
8. Web site: Farmer . Sam . Gilbride stepping aside from bench . 2019-01-02 . Wahoo-Ashland-Waverly.com . en.
9. Web site: Lindsey Miller-Lerman ’73: Marking a Path to Nebraska’s Highest Court . 2023-11-02 . www.law.columbia.edu . en.
10. Web site: Gradwohl . Janice . April 2000 . INCHING THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING: The History of the Selection of Women Judges in Nebraska . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402121141/http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nebar.com/resource/resmgr/Nebraska_Lawyer_Magazine/TNL-0400c.pdf . 2015-04-02 . 2018-05-29 . Nebraska Lawyer.
11. Web site: Papillion Woman Appointed Judge Of 2nd Judicial District County Court. Morman. LeAnne. www.wowt.com. english. 2019-01-02.
12. Web site: Former NCIA board chairwoman Andrea Miller is first Native American District Judge. NCIA . 2022-03-05 . indianaffairs.state.ne.us.
13. Web site: 2022-07-18 . Nebraska District Judge Tressa Alioth Wants To See More Diversity . 2022-08-12 . Black Enterprise . en-US.
14. Web site: Former NCIA Commissioner Sits in On Nebraska Supreme Court NCIA . 2022-11-23 . indianaffairs.state.ne.us.
15. Web site: Nebraska U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg retires after being asked to resign; Stenberg, Spray mentioned as possible successors. Clarridge. Emerson. Omaha.com. en. 2019-01-02.
16. Book: Buhrman, Kathy Haley. Washington County. 2017-10-30. Arcadia Publishing. 9781439663431. en.
17. Web site: 2002 Amy I. Longo. www.alumni.creighton.edu. en. 2019-01-02.
18. Web site: Karen Ditsch Attorney, Mediator, and Arbitrator - About Karen Ditsch. www.karenditsch.com. 2019-03-25.
19. Book: Gless, Alan G.. The History of Nebraska Law. 2008. Ohio University Press. 9780821417874. en.
20. Web site: Jim McKee: Fannie O'Linn, the first, second or fifth female attorney in state. JournalStar.com. en. 2019-07-10.
21. Book: Chadron. Carpenter. Deb. Korte. Ken. 2004-07-27. Arcadia Publishing. 9781439614952. en.
22. (2023, January 4). <em>Lincoln Journal Star (NE)</em>, p. 8. Available from NewsBank: Access World News: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=image/v2%3A182F938DC5B82838%40AWNB-18ED459F1482BAAB%402459949-18ED45A0B8931B63%407-18ED45A0B8931B63%40.
    • Grace Ballard (1914): First female to serve as the County Attorney for Washington County, Nebraska (c. 1920s)

    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 Nebraska

    References

    ]