1915

Women's suffrage became the first major project undertaken by the Club.  Three time NAWL President, Olive Stott Gabriel, argued for women's voting rights across the county.

1918

Judge Mary Belle Grossman and Mary Florence Lathrop became the first two women lawyers admitted to the American Bar Association.

1919

Congress passed the 19th Amendment and the Women Lawyers' Club membership mobilized to work for ratification by the states.

During the first four decades of the Club (and later, the Association) worked consistently on social legislation - including child labor laws, minimum wage, divorce and marriage laws, the right for a woman to keep her name after marriage, and the right for women to serve on juries.

1923

Due to increasing nationwide membership, the Women Lawyers' Club became the National Association of Women Lawyers.

NAWL held its first national convention in Minneapolis with Chief Justice William Howard Taft.

1934

NAWL member Florence E. Allen of Ohio was appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Roosevelt and she became the nation's first woman federal judge and the highest-ranking woman jurist.

1935

NAWL was one of the first national organizations to endorse the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, first introduced to Congress in 1922. The ERA becomes an ongoing high priority for the Association over the next several decades.

1937

K. Elizabeth Ohi became the first Asian American woman lawyer admitted to the bar.

1943

NAWL became an Affiliated Organization of the American Bar Association.

NAWL led the creation of opportunities for women to serve in the military. More than 150 NAWL members were serving in the WACS, WAVES, and the Marine Corps Women's Reserve.

1944

Lucile Lomen became the first woman to serve as a law clerk for a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1945

NAWL became an official NGO Observer of the newly-founded United Nations.

1949

The National Association of Women Lawyers celebrated its 50th Anniversary in St. Louis.

1952

NAWL drafted the Uniform Divorce Bill, calling it "the greatest project NAWL has ever undertaken."

1954

The first NAWL office was established in the new ABA Center in Chicago.

1961

NAWL past president, Marguerite Rawalt, was appointed by President Kennedy to the President's Commission on the Status of Women.

Sarah Hughes swearing in Vice President Johnson
(Image courtesy of Cecil W. Stoughton)

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."


Margaret Mead

1964

Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color and first Asian American woman elected to Congress. In 1970, she became the first member of Congress to oppose a Supreme Court nominee on the basis of discrimination against women.

1965

NAWL member Lorna E. Lockwood became the first woman chief justice of any state.

1966

Constance Baker Motley became the first African American woman appointed as a federal judge in the U.S.

1972

Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment. The ratification of the amendment by the states became NAWL's major project for the rest of the decade. In 1972, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke became the first African American woman from California to win a House seat. NAWL Member, Vicky McPherson wrote a feature on Burke's legacy for Black History Month

in 2021.

1974

The Women Lawyers Journal carried a comprehensive review of the need for the Equal Rights Amendment written by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the first tenured woman law professor at Columbia University.

1978

Frances Munoz became the first Latina trial court judge in the U.S.

1980

Carmen Consuelo Cerezo became the first Latina to serve on a federal bench when she became a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Puerto Rico.

1981

Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

1983

Mahala Ashley Dickerson became the first African-American president of NAWL.

In 1983, Hon. Juanita Kidd Stout spoke at NAWL's Regional Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. You can find her speech here.

1985

NAWL began granting membership to male applicants.

Juanita Kidd Stout

1988

NAWL member, Juanita Kidd Stout, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, becoming the first African-American woman to serve on a state's highest court.

1989

The NAWL assembly endorsed the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

1993

Carol Moseley Braun became the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as the Attorney General of the U.S.

1995

Roberta Cooper Ramo was elected the first woman president of the American Bar Association.

1997

NAWL member, Martha W. Barnett, became the first recipient of NAWL's highest honor, the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award.

1998

Kim McLane Wardlaw became the first Latina appointed as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge when appointed to the Ninth Circuit.

1998

Susan Oki Mollway became the first Asian American woman appointed to the federal bench.

1999

NAWL celebrated its Centennial Anniversary. To commemorate the anniversary and NAWL's legacy, NAWL member Selma Moidel Smith authored the 'Centennial History of NAWL' in the 1999 Summer issue of the Women Lawyers Journal. 

2000

The first Directory of Women Lawyers and Women Owned Law Firms was published.

Sonia Sotomayor received the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award.

2005

NAWL's first Annual General Counsel Institute was held in New York City.

2006

NAWL published the first National Survey on the Retention and Promotion of Women in the Law.
                                                                                           

2008

NAWL published the Summit Report Actions for Advancing Women into Law Firm Leadership.

2009

Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina on the Supreme Court of the U.S.

NAWL's independent Supreme Court Committee recommended the confirmation of Elena Kagan as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court.

2010

Phyllis Frye became the first openly transgender judge in the world.

NAWL held regional meetings on the status of the Summit Report Actions for Advancing Women into Law Firm Leadership.
                                                                                           

2012

Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen became the first Asian American woman appointed as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge when appointed to the Ninth Circuit.

2014

NAWL introduced the NAWL Challenge Club

2016

 Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) became the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate.

NAWL issued its one-third by 2020 Challenge to the profession. 

2020

Kamala Harris became the first woman elected Vice President of the U.S.

2022

 Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first African American woman to serve as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.