Category: Law

Image description: A headshot of Peg Lautenschlager.

Peg Lautenschlager

Peg Lautenschlager was the first female district attorney for Winnebago County, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, and the first female Attorney General of Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Dorothy Walker.

Dorothy Walker

Trial lawyer Dorothy Walker was the first female district attorney in Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Mabel Watson Raimey.

Mabel Watson Raimey

Mabel Raimey was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, attend Marquette University Law School, and practice law in Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Vel Phillips resting her head on her folded hands.

Vel Phillips

Vel Phillips achieved many firsts, including first woman and first African American to be elected to the statewide office of secretary of state.
Image description: A black-and-white headshot of Lavinia Goodell.

Lavinia Goodell

Lavinia Goodell was the first female lawyer admitted to the bar of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Kimberlé Crenshaw

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leader in critical race theory, introduced the term "intersectionality" to describe the multiple ways people can be oppressed.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Carin Clauss with her right hand raised, presumably being sworn in to the United States Department of Labor as a solicitor.

Carin Clauss

Carin Clauss was the first woman Solicitor in the U.S. Department of Labor.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Angie Brooks sitting at the United Nations general assembly.

Angie Brooks

Angie Brooks is best known as the first African woman to serve as president of the United Nations General Assembly.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Elizabeth Baird leaning against a table.

Elizabeth Baird

Elizabeth Baird’s newspaper stories about the developing Green Bay area in the 1800s were among the earliest written accounts of life in Wisconsin.
Image description: A black-and-white photo of Shirley Abrahamson raising her right hand, presumably being sworn in as a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.

Shirley Abrahamson

Shirley S. Abrahamson was the first woman justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the first female chief justice in state history.