List of first women lawyers and judges in New Mexico explained

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

Lawyers

• First female admitted: Henrietta Hume Pettijohn Buck (1892)^{[1] [2]}
• First female (actively practice): Nellie C. Brewer Pierce (1908)
• First Hispanic American female: Betty Ann Camunez (1972)
• First Pueblo female: Carol Jean Vigil (c. 1977)^[3]
• First undocumented female: Jazmín Irazoqui-Ruiz in 2017^[4]

State judges

• First female: Olga Melinda Victoria Miller in 1910^{[5] [6]}
• First female (district court): Mary Coon Walters (1962) in 1972^{[7] [8]}
• First Mexican American female (Second Judicial District): Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1978^[9]
• First female (New Mexico Supreme Court): Mary Coon Walters (1962) in 1984
• First female (New Mexico Court of Appeals): Christina Armijo (1975) from 1996-2011^[10]
• First Native American (Pueblo) (female): Carol Jean Vigil (c. 1977) in 1998^{[11] [12]}
• First African American female (district court): Angela Jewell in 1999^[13]
• First female (Chief Justice; New Mexico Supreme Court): Pamela B. Minzner (1972) in 1999^[14]
• First Hispanic American female (Chief Justice; New Mexico Supreme Court): Petra F. Jimenez Maes (1973) in 2003^[15]
• First openly lesbian female (New Mexico Court of Appeals): Linda Vanzi in 2010^[16]
• First female (Seventh Judicial District): Mercedes C. Murphy in 2014^[17]
• First female (Sixth Judicial District): Jennifer Delaney^[18]
• First African American (female) (New Mexico Court of Appeals): Shammara Henderson in 2020^[19]

Federal judges

• First female (Navajo Nation Judicial Branch): Marie Roanhorse Neswood from 1976–1989^[20]
• First (Latino American) female (U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico): Martha Vázquez (1978) in 1993^[21]

• First Mexican American female: Patricia A. Madrid (1973) in 1999^[22]

• First female (Acting): Ruth Cooper Streeter in 1969^{[23] [24]}

District Attorney

• First female: Margaret Weldon Lamb (1969) from 1978-1980

Political Office

• First Hispanic American female (Governor of New Mexico): Susana Martinez (1986) in 2011^[25]
• First Hispanic American female (elected from the Democratic Party as the Governor of New Mexico): Michelle Lujan Grisham (1987) in 2018^[26]

• First African American female admitted: Barbara Brown Simmons (c. 1974)^{[27] [28]}
• First female president: Amanda L. Ashford in 1990^[29]
• First Latino American female president: Mary Torres in 2002^[30]

Firsts in local history

• Barbara Brown Simmons (c. 1974): First African American female graduate from the University of New Mexico School of Law [<nowiki/>[[Bernalillo County, New Mexico]]]
• Kari Brandenburg:^[31] First female District Attorney for Bernalillo County, New Mexico (2000)
• Kea Riggs:^[32] First female district court judge in Chaves County, New Mexico
• Esther Smith Van Soelen:^[33] First female lawyer in Clovis, New Mexico [<nowiki/>[[Curry County, New Mexico]]]
• Olga Melinda Victoria Miller: First female judge in Doña Ana County, New Mexico (1910)
• Nancy Beard:^[34] First female Magistrate Judge in Eddy County, New Mexico
• Edith Gutierrez:^[35] First female (non-attorney) judge in Silver City, New Mexico [Grant County, New Mexico]]
• Bettye Dean:^[36] First female magistrate in Lincoln County, New Mexico (1983)
• Angela "Spence" Pacheco:^[37] First female to serve as the judicial district attorney in Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, and Santa Fe Counties, New Mexico (2008)
• Irene Saiz Mirabal-Counts:^[38] First female to serve as a Magistrate Judge in Otero County, New Mexico (2016)

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 New Mexico

Notes and References

1. Book: Weatherford, Doris. Women in American Politics: History and Milestones. 2012-01-20. SAGE. 9781608710072. en.
2. Web site: A Celebration of New Mexico's First Women Lawyers. Presented by the New Mexico Women's Bar Association in Cooperation with the State Bar of New Mexico. October 11, 2016.
3. News: Passings. Reports. Times Wire. 2009-03-31. Los Angeles Times. 2018-01-20. en-US. 0458-3035.
4. Web site: New Mexico allows immigrants here illegally to obtain law licenses . 2022-10-26 . ABA Journal . en.
5. Web site: New Mexico's First Woman Judge. April 10, 2006. Bar Bulletin.
6. News: The First Woman Judge in New Mexico. Carrizozo News. 1910-11-11. 2019-02-27. 2166-7756.
7. Book: A celebration of New Mexico's first women lawyers: presented by the New Mexico Women's Bar Association with the State Bar of New Mexico. 2002. New Mexico Women's Bar Association. en.
8. Book: Final report of the New Mexico State Bar Task Force on Women and the Legal Profession. Singleton. Sarah M.. Profession. New Mexico State Bar Task Force on Women and the Legal. Mexico. State Bar of New. 1991. State Bar of New Mexico. en.
9. Book: Bullis, Don . New Mexico Historical Biographies . 2011-07-01 . BookBaby . 9781936744909 . en.
10. Book: National News . 1995 . American Legion Auxiliary . en.
11. Web site: TO THE BOARD OF BAR COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE BAR OF NEW MEXICO REPORT THE STATUS OF MINORITY ATTORNEYS IN NEW MEXICO – AN UPDATE: 1990-1999 . THE STATE BAR OF NEW MEXICO TASK FORCE ON MINORITIES IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION II.
12. Web site: Terrell . Steve . November 5, 2005 . Governor appoints long-time S.F. lawyer to replace retiring judge Vigil . 2020-03-10 . The Santa Fe New Mexican . en.
13. Upon Jewell’s appointment as a Judge of the Second Judicial District Court in New Mexico in 1999
14. News: Supreme Court Justice Minzner dead at 63 . en-US . NMPolitics.net . 2017-10-25.
15. Web site: 2016-04-01 . Justice Petra Jimenez Maes . 2018-01-20 . nmcourts.sks.com.
16. Web site: 2010-06-02 . Lesbian Judge Wins Statewide Race in New Mexico . 2022-06-09 . www.advocate.com . en.
17. Web site: District Court Judges. seventhdistrictcourt.nmcourts.gov. 2018-01-05.
18. Web site: Deming Pi Chapter honors 5 as 'Women We Admire'. The Deming Headlight. en. 2019-07-14.
19. Web site: First African American appointed to New Mexico Court of Appeals. Leggett. Shellye. 2020-02-18. KOAT. en. 2020-03-06.
20. Web site: (TNS) . Noel Lyn Smith The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M. . First woman judge for Navajo courts remembered . 2018-01-10 . www.abqjournal.com . en-US.
21. News: Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 28, 1993 · Page 1. Newspapers.com. 2018-01-19. en.
22. Book: Políticas: Latina Public Officials in Texas. García. Sonia R.. Martinez-Ebers. Valerie. Coronado. Irasema. Navarro. Sharon A.. Jaramillo. Patricia A.. 2009-06-03. University of Texas Press. 9780292779983. en.
23. Web site: Obituary: Ruth Cooper Streeter . 2024-06-15 . obits.abqjournal.com.
24. Several sources consider Ruth Cooper Street the first female prosecutor in New Mexico.
25. Web site: Meet the First Hispanic Republican Female Governor. Newton-Small. Jay. TIME.com. 2018-05-30.
26. News: Michelle Lujan Grisham to become New Mexico's first Democratic Latina governor. Nam. Rafael. 2018-11-06. TheHill. 2018-11-16. en.
27. Web site: UNM project keeps history alive . 2019-01-06 . UNM Newsroom . en.
28. Web site: Barbara Brown Simmons . AND YET SHE PERSISTED: DOCUMENTING WOMEN'S LIVES IN NEW MEXICO.
29. Web site: Birthday Celebration. www.nmbar.org. 2019-01-02.
30. Web site: Mary Torres: First Hispanic Secretary of the ABA. Garcia. Elizabeth. August 2013. New Mexico Lawyer.
31. Web site: Murder charges against police put New Mexico DA in spotlight. CONTRERAS. RUSSELL. 2015-01-13. KDBC. 2019-03-27.
32. Web site: Local judge appears before Senate Judiciary Committee Roswell Daily Record. Ross. Alex. en-US. 2019-07-14.
33. Web site: City's first female lawyer to be honored. The Eastern New Mexico News. 2019-04-03.
34. Web site: Focus on Carlsbad Fall 2014. Issuu. en. 2019-07-14.
35. Web site: Desert Exposure May 2010 Judge Edith Gutierrez. www.desertexposure.com. 2018-02-09.
36. Web site: Dean sworn in as magistrate. November 10, 1983. Newspapers.com.
37. Book: Pacheco, Ana . Legendary Locals of Santa Fe . 2013-02-25 . Arcadia Publishing . 978-1-4396-4207-8 . en.
38. Web site: Mirabal-Counts sworn in as Magistrate Court judge. Alamogordo Daily News. en. 2019-07-09.