Past Presidents
Henrietta Gitlin
Gertrude Caesar
Freda Spinard Kole
Lili Axinn
Mary Cooper
Ida A. Finkelstein
Mary Moran
Shirley Levine Marshak
Grace Freuder Davis
Lillian Eichman
Lillian Rinenberg
Bessie R. Geffner
Bertha Robinson
Florence Walton
Sadie Baris Turak
Helen November Wile
Florence Dumanis
Fredericka Clarke
Clarice Burkhard
Geraldine T. Eiber
Ann B. Dufficy
Pearl (Basta) Corrado
Marie A. Beary
Yorka Linakis
Harriet George
Geraldine Ferraro
Thelma Blumberg
Jennie Maiolo
Joan Weisberg
Anna Marie Policritti
Kathryn Timon
Constance Bonnie Mandina
Maureen Healey
Katherine Glover
Bonnie R. Cohen-Gallet
Hon. Darrell Gavrin
Linda Povman
Madaleine Egelfeld
Ilene Kass
Mindy Trepel
Barbara Reede
Linda Fedrizzi
Kathleen Ward
Ilene Fern
Elisabeth Vreeburg
Daphne Loukides
June Briese
Susan Borko
Robin Levinson
Elizabeth Anderson
Hon. Marguerite Grays
Hon. Sally Unger
Hon. Bruno DiBiase
Pamela Jordan
Tracy Catapano-Fox
Nicole McGregor Mundy
Hon. Bernice Siegal
Donna Furey
Zenith T. Taylor
Lourdes M. Ventura
Eun Chong (EJ) Thorsen
Alexandra Zervopoulos
Adrienne Williams
Soma Syed
Fay Parris
Chronology of Important Dates
November 22, 1638 – Margaret Brent arrived in Maryland to become the first woman lawyer in the colonies.
October 24, 1830 – Birth date of Belva Lockwood, the first woman lawyer to argue in the U.S. Supreme Court.
July 30, 1852 – Birth date of Emma Gillett. She and Ellen Spencer Mussey founded a law school for women, which later became American University’s Washington College of Law.
June 30, 1870 – Ada Kepley became the first woman in the U.S. to graduate from law school.
February 15, 1879 – Congress passed “An Act to Relieve Certain Legal Disabilities” allowing women to practice in all federal courts.
January 22, 1887 – Editorial in Daily Register (now N.Y.L.J.) warned that if women were admitted to the Bar they would treat law like fashion.
March 4, 1895 – Nelle Stanleyetta Titus, the first woman lawyer in New York, was admitted to the federal court.
April 3, 1929 – Charter Member Clara Fisch was admitted to the N.Y. Bar after having graduated from the “millionaire’s session” (afternoon classes) of Brooklyn Law School.
September 14, 1931 – Fourteen women lawyers met in Jamaica. Queens to discuss formation of a Queens County Women’s Bar Association.
February, 1940 – FLORENCE V. LUCAS was admitted to N.Y.S. Bar and immediately became a member of the Association. She was the first black women lawyer admitted to practice in Queens County.
May 6, 1960 – Joan O’Dwyer was the first woman to be appointed a Criminal Court Judge in Queens.
January 1, 1970 – Ann B. Dufficy was the first woman elected to the Queens Civil Court.
August 28, 1973 – Rose Rubin was appointed to the N.Y.S. Court of Claims.
January 1, 1974 – Joan Durante and Ann B. Dufficy were elected as the first woman Justices of the New York State Supreme Court, Queens County.
April 1, 1977 – Harriet George was appointed Judge of the N.Y.S. Housing Court.
January 1, 1980 – Geraldine Eiber, Yorka Linarkis and Martha Zelman became Justices of the N.Y.S. Supreme Court.
March 18, 1980 – Jenny Maiolo announced a special Association project to assist battered women and crime victims.
September 25, 1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first woman Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
November 3, 1981 – Pearle Appelman elected to the N.Y.C. Civil Court.