First 100 Women Lawyers in the Greater New Orleans Area

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First 100 Women Lawyers in the Greater New Orleans Area

Beginnning in 2012, the Women in the Profession Committee began compiling a list of the first 100 women lawyers in the Greater New Orleans area. By 2014, Chief Justice Bernette J. Johnson, Louisiana Supreme Court, delivered an address at a NOBA luncheon noting the incredible firsts of these women.  NOBA's Women in the Profession Committee recognizes the milestones achieved by New Orleans' first women lawyers and their lasting contributions, which have impacted all women to this day.

This list reflects only those local to the New Orleans metro area who are on the rolls of the Louisiana Supreme Court and practiced law in the New Orleans area. It is the result of extensive and ongoing research using many different sources and we recognize that records may be incomplete. We are indebted to Georgia Chadwick and Tara Cunnigham,  Law Library of Louisiana, for their guidance and research using multiple sources of documentation. As we receive new information, we will continue to add names and materials about women lawyers. If you have information to add, please contact Helena Henderson (504-525-7453).

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LASC

NAME

NOTES
1 6/1/1898 Bettie Runnels

1st woman to enter Tulane Law School
Signature in First Attorney Roll Book, Admitted to Louisiana Bar, p. 146
2 6/29/1898 Rose Cara Falls Bres

Previously admitted to practice law in Kentucky ~1889
Louisiana Supreme Court Minute Book Notes on Rose Cara Falls,
June 29, 1898
Signature in First Attorney Roll Book, Admitted to Louisiana Bar, p. 146
President, National Women's Law Association
"Miss Rose the Reconciler"
3 5/18/1904 Florence Loeber

1st woman lawyer to challenge gender inequities directly in Louisiana
Signatory to the Original Charter of NOBA, December 19, 1924
Woman Attorney Florence Loeber: The Trend of Admitting Agency in the New Orleans Legal Community, Nicole Pelletier, Tulane University
Signature in First Attorney Roll Book, Admitted to Louisiana Bar, p. 165
4 5/17/1906 Edna Louise Louque Burton

Signature in First Attorney Roll Book, Admitted to Louisiana Bar, p. 175
5 5/17/1906 Helen McGloin Wood

Signature in First Attorney Roll Book, Admitted to Louisiana Bar, p. 173
6 5/31/1907 Jessy Homor Benedict Gessner

"Women Meeting Success In Practice of Law.", Times-Picayune. July 9, 1922
"Women Can Succeed as Lawyers, She Says", New Orleans States, May 22,1921
Signature in First Attorney Roll Book, Admitted to Louisiana Bar, p. 177.
Attended the first NOBA Organizational Meeting, December 19, 1924 
Signatory to NOBA's Charter, December 19, 1924 
7 6/7/1920 Judith Hyams Douglas
(Mrs. Roydan Douglas)		 "Women Meeting Success In Practice of Law."
Times-Picayune. July 9, 1922
  August 1920   Women given the right to vote. 
8 6/9/1921 Joanna Magdalen Palermo "Women Meeting Success In Practice of Law."
Times-Picayune. July 9, 1922
9 6/15/1921 Alice Agnes Allen Daviau 

1st woman to graduate from Loyola Law School
"Women Meeting Success In Practice of Law", Times-Picayune. July 9, 1922
10 1922 Hon. Anna Judge Veters Levy

Graduated 1st in her class at Loyola Law School in 1922
"If In Trouble Women Lawyers Will Help You", Times-Picayune. July 9, 1922
1st woman elected Judge in Louisiana, Orleans Juvenile Court in 1941
Judge, Orleans First City Court, appointed by Governor of Louisiana in 1951
Levy, Anna Judge Veters. Other People's Children, The Ronald Press, 1958.
Chair, NOBA Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar
11 1922 Irene J. Barrios  
12 1924 Claire Loeb  
  1/1/1925   Act No. 113, SB 10. As of  January 1, 1925, everyone was required to pass an exam before the Committee of Bar Examiners of the Louisiana Supreme Court. See notice of first bar exam, 3/20/1925.
13 7/3/1925 Edwina Breckwoldt Chasez Mother of Hon. Alma L. Chasez, #88, and wife to Hon. Paul Chasez. 
14 7/2/1926 Mary H. Connolly  
15 7/2/1926 Anna Spellman Wogan

Only woman in her Tulane Law School class.
Two Join Law Firm Of Smith and Irion. New Orleans Item, April 7, 1927.
16 1/14/1927 Bernice Englert "Lawyer", New Orleans States, March 18, 1928. Article on Bernice Englert.
17 6/1/1928 Irma M. Kenny  
18 7/13/1928 Golda S. Landauer  
19 1930 Ella Hubbell  
20 7/1/1935 Juanita Tansey Parker  
21 7/12/1935 Adelaide Baudier

Co-Ed Takes Law in Loyola Class, The Times-Picayune, December 4, 1932
Only Girl Freshman Working Her Way Through College
22 7/1/1937 Marian Mayer Berkett

Mayer, Marian. Workmen's Compensation Law in Louisiana, LSU Press, 1937.
1st woman lawyer hired by a large law firm in Louisiana in 1937
NOBA Award of Special Distinction, 1998
Remembering Marian Mayer Berkett
23 8/8/1939 Marjorie Smith Zengel  
24 12/10/1940 Beverly Jewel Hess  
25 7/28/1941 Miriam Cooney Abbott Miriam Cooney Abbott recognized as 50-Year Member at NOBA's Annual Dinner Meeting 1991
26 1941 Edna Sakir  
27 1941 Katherine Settle Wright  
28 7/27/1942 Elizabeth Ridnour Haak  
29 7/27/1942 Kathlyn M. Roome    
30 10/6/1942 Courtney Schiro Faust  
31 7/8/1943 Aline Nobile Thompson  
32 7/26/1944 Marjorie L. Jackson  
33 8/1/1945 Dorothy D. Wolbrette  
34 7/31/1946 Anna Andollina  
35 1946 Kathleen Ruddell  
36 Nov. 1946 Florence Lusk Alexander McKinney

Candidates for Bar Too Young for Oath, New Orleans States, November 5, 1946
Mother and Man Polio Victim Overcome Handicaps and Team Up as Law Partners, New Orleans States November 11, 1946
37 3/24/1947 Marian Lloyd Nash  
38 1948 Dorothy Tolmas Horton 1st Orleans Parish Municipal Court woman judge Ad Hoc in 1971
Here Comes the Lady Judge, The States-Item, August 12, 1971
39 3/31/1953 Lynn Piazza Jackson  
40 3/31/1953 Janet Mary Riley

1st woman law professor in New Orleans (Loyola Law School), 7th in the U.S.
Noted civil rights activist. 
Overturned "Head and Master" laws and proposed "equal management" in reference to community property law adopted by the Louisiana legislature in 1978 and formally incorporated into the Civil Code in 1980.
In 1974, worked on La. Task Force on Women and Credit giving women equal credit opportunities and made a broad examination of sexual discrimination in all areas of Louisiana law.

Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times. Allured, Janet; Farmer-Kaiser, Mary; Frystak, Shannon (2015)" An Angel with Teeth", University of Georgia Press. p. 44.

 “I Found it Very Difficult to Be Heard” from Generations: A Century of Women Speak About their Lives

Oral History Interview, Louisiana Bar Foundation (must search page)
41 6/11/1953 Nadia St. Paul Moise  
42 7/29/1953 Florence Dodge  
43 1954 Bobbie Sue Blanchard Miller-Honour

First Woman at Tulane Law School to win the three-year Moot Court Competition
PhD in International Economics from Oxford University 

Obituary, August 20, 2022
44 6/11/1954 Louise Schramm Korns  
45 2/24/1955 June B. Cahn  
46 6/10/1955 Helene McGee Walker  
47 6/12/1956 Adelaide W. Benjamin Oral History Interview, Louisiana Bar Foundation  (must search page)
48 6/12/1956 Joan A. Danner  
49 6/12/1956 Dolores Indest  
50 6/12/1956 Mary Gloria Lawson Wilson  
51 6/12/1957 Corinne "Connie" L. Wiener  
52 6/11/1958 Carole A. Breithoff  
53 6/11/1958 Gertrude M. Lemelle

1st African-American woman admitted to practice law in New Orleans
Note: Cousin to Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle, USDC EDLA
54 6/11/1958 Margot L. Mazeau 1st Woman Clerk at Louisiana Supreme Court
55 2/17/1959 Elsie B. Halford

Obituary, August 7, 2012

Editor, Phi Delta Delta magazine, 1968
56 6/8/1959 Joan Elaine Chauvin  
57 6/8/1959 Lillian M. Cohen  
58 6/8/1959 Dorothy R. Cowen  
59 2/16/1960 Elizabeth Spink Karmazin  
60 6/14/1960 Penn Cuney  
61 6/14/1961 Gloria Irvine  
62 6/14/1961 Barbara B. Rutledge  
63 6/13/1962 Mildred L. Krieger  
64 6/13/1962 Marian M. Livaudais

Clerked at LASC for two years after law school. Argued case before the US Supreme Court and won. 

Lawyers take La. issue to highest court, Times-Picayune Thursday, January 16, 1997

Lawyers: Argue over distribution of pension fund, Times-Picayune, Thursday, January 16, 1997
65 1962 Blanche Marian Mysing  
66 6/13/1962 Margaret Cleve Spedale  
67 6/18/1963 Jacqueline McPherson  
68 8/28/1963 Edna S. Killian  
69 6/17/1964 Hon. Mary Ann Vial Lemmon Oral History Interview, Louisiana Bar Foundation  (must search page)
70 8/1/1964 Brenda Gail McDonough  
71 8/26/1964 Joy S. Miller  
72 1964 Arthel Scheuermann  
73 8/26/1964 Shirley Basile Singreen  
74 8/26/1964 Evangeline M. Vavrick

2006 Recipient, NOBA's Presidents' Award, Biographical Sketch 
Obituary, 2017
75 1964 Diane Farrell Yockey Former law clerk to Judge Louis H. Yarrut, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal
76 8/25/1965 Hon. Nancy Amato Konrad

1st woman elected Judge in Jefferson Parish
Oral History Interview, Louisiana Bar Foundation  (must search page)
77 8/25/1965 Hon. Anita Livingston Connick

1st woman elected Judge, Orleans Parish First City Court, 1979
Wife of long-time New Orleans District Attorney, Harry Connick, and 
Mother of noted musician and actor, Harry Connick, Jr. 
78 8/31/1966 Margaret A. O. Correro  
79 8/31/1966 Hon. Veronica D. Wicker

1st woman appointed in Louisiana as a Federal Magistrate Judge 
1st woman appointed as a United States District Judge in Louisiana
80 8/31/1966 Phyllis M. Taylor  
81 4/21/1967 Ethel H. Cohen  
82 8/31/1967 Hon. Joan Bernard Armstrong

1st African-American woman in Louisiana elected as a Judge in 1974
1st African-American woman appellate Judge in Louisiana in 1984
1st African-American to serve as Chief Judge of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal
83 8/31/1967 Mary Williams Cazalas   
84 8/31/1967 Camille Jones Strachan  
85 8/29/1968 Jane M. Gisevius  
86 8/29/1968 Helen Slipman Kohlman  
87 5/15/1969 Sue A. Spilsbury  
88 9/5/1969 Eavelyn T. Brooks  
89 9/5/1969 Hon. Alma L. Chasez

President, NOBA Inn of Court, 1994-97
President, New Orleans Bar Association, 1998-99
"Master" of Masters of the Courtroom, 1996-2012
Daughter of Edna Chasez, First 100 Women Lawyers #13, and 
Hon. Paul Chasez, Orleans Civil District Court, and La. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
90 9/5/1969 Hon. Bernette Joshua Johnson

1st African-American woman on Louisiana Supreme Court in 1994
1st African-American Chief Justice on Louisiana Supreme Court in 2013
1st woman and African-American elected to Orleans Civil District Court
Recipient, NOBA Visionary Leader Award, 2020
Mother to Hon. Rachael Johnson, La. 4th Circuit Court of Appeal
91 9/5/1969 Hon. Jeannette Theriot Knoll 1st woman elected to an appellate court in Louisina in 1982
92 9/5/1969 Norris S. L. Williams  
93 9/11/1970 Adriel G. Arceneaux

2005-06 President, New Orleans Bar Foundation
Obituary, NOLA.com, July 2006.
94 9/11/1970 Janice Martin Foster 1st African-American woman graduate of Tulane Law School
95 9/11/1970 Jocelyn D. Guarisco  
96 9/11/1970 Darleen Marie Jacobs "Spotlight on Successful Women in the Practice of Law", NOBA, April 19, 2021. 
97 9/11/1970 Hon. Catherine D. "Kitty" Kimball 1st woman Chief Justice on Louisiana Supreme Court
98 9/11/1970 Lynn Perkins Perez  
99 9/11/1970 Sharon A. Perlis Obituary, Nola.com, August 2022. 
100 9/11/1970 Loretta G. Whyte Oral History Interview, Louisiana Bar Foundation (must search page)
101 9/11/1970 Bluma F. Wolfson  
102 9/11/1970 Hon. Michaelle Pitard Wynne In Memoriam, Loyola Law Review
103 9/9/1971 Janice P. Campbell  
104 9/9/1971 Marena Lienhard Crosby  
105 9/9/1971 Olga D. Kogos  
106 9/9/1971 Marianne N. Koorie  
107 9/9/1971 Hon. Anita H. Ganucheau  
108 9/9/1971 Hon. Miriam G. Waltzer

1st woman District Attorney in Orleans Parish
1st woman elected Judge in Orleans Criminal Court
Oral History Interview, Louisiana Bar Foundation (must search page)
108 9/23/1971 Lynne Rothschild Stern  
110 9/21/1972 J. Donice Alverson  
111 9/21/1972 Jacqueline Mae Goldberg  
112 9/21/1972 Janet Wessler Marshall  
113 9/21/1972 Anne B. Sobol  
114 9/21/1972 Mary Ann McGrath Swaim  
115 9/21/1972 Theresa A. Tamburo  
116 9/21/1972 Cathey L. Wetzel  
117 10/9/1972 Patricia A. Mathes  
118 4/25/1973 Hon. Edith Brown Clement  
119 4/25/1973 Ann H. Stafford  
120 6/20/1973 Maureen Rodi Hoskins  
121 7/19/1973 Cynthia Ann Samuel 1st woman professor at Tulane Law School in 1975
122 10/5/1973 Janice L. Gonzales  
123 10/5/1973 Kathryn Venturatos Lorio 

Law School Professor; 2010-2011 Acting Dean of Loyola Law School
A Tale of Two Families: A Tribute to Kathryn Venturatos Lorio
124 10/5/1973 Kathleen S. Plemer  
125 10/5/1973 Virginia Laughlin Schlueter

Federal Public Defender, USDC EDLA
President, Federal Bar Association
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
126 10/5/1973 Cynthia Anne Wegmann  
127 10/5/1973 Hon. Charlotte N. White  
128 4/30/1974 Cheryl B. Horton  
129 4/30/1974 Ann G. Roy  
  1974   With passage of the Equal Opportunity Credit Act in 1974, women were able to obtain credit in their own names.
See Janet Mary Riley, #40.