This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in California. 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 state history

Law School

Mary McHenry Keith: First female law graduate in California (1882)

Lawyers

Clara Shortridge Foltz (1878): First female lawyer (and notary public) in California Mary Josephine Young: First female lawyer admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of California (1879) Christine la Barraque (c. 1906): First blind female lawyer in California Stella Ajamian Edwarde (1922): First Armenian American female lawyer in California Annie Coker (1929): First African American female lawyer in California Chiyoko Sakamoto (Takahashi) (1938): First Japanese American female lawyer in California Emma Ping Lum (c. 1946): First Chinese American female lawyer in California Mary Virginia Orozco (1962): First Latino American female lawyer in CaliforniaCertain sources identify Rosalind Goodrich Bates as the first licensed Latina lawyer in California. Although Bates had Mexican ancestry, she did not identify as such (nor as Latina) during her lifetime. This might explain why Mary Virginia Orozco is deemed the first Latina lawyer in California. Eleanor Nisperos (1972): First Filipino American female lawyer in California Abby Abinanti (1974): First Native American (Yurok) female lawyer in California Sofia L. Nietes (1975): First Filipino American female educated in the Philippines to be admitted to the California State Bar Norma Samra (1986): First Indian American female lawyer in California Mia Yamamoto: First openly transgender (woman) defense lawyer in California (2005)Although Yamamoto was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1972, she did not transition until around 2005. Farah Abdulrahman Al-Muftah (2011): First Qatari female admitted to the California State Bar Vanessa Pumar (2015): First undocumented female lawyer in CaliforniaPumar is also the first DACA recipient lawyer in California. Leila Alamri-Kassim (2017): First Yemeni American female lawyer in California

State judges

Lillie M. Laird, Clara Jess and Edna Jesse Keeran: First female Justices of the Peace respectively in California (1912–1913) Georgia Bullock (1913): First female judge in California (1924) Annette Abbott Adams (1912): First female to serve as an appellate court judge in California (upon her appointment as a Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal of the Third Appellate District in 1942) Mildred Lillie (1938): First female to serve as Associate Justice of any California appellate court (Second District-1958). Later was elevated to Presiding Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal (1982) Vaino Spencer (1952): First African American female judge in California (1961) Ann H. Rutherford (1967): First female to serve as a judge in a rural county in California (Butte; 1976) Margaret J. Morris (1953): First female to serve as an Associate Justice (1976) and Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in California (1982) Rose Bird (1966): First female to serve on the California Supreme Court (1977) and serve as its Chief Justice (1977) Frances Munoz (1972): First Latino American female judge in California (1978) Abby Soven: First openly lesbian judge in California (1978) Joan Dempsey Klein (1955): First female presiding justice of the Second District Court of Appeal (1978) Patricia A. Yim Cowett (1972): First Chinese American female judge in California (1979) Arleigh M. Woods (1953): First African American female to serve on the Court of Appeals in California (1980) Betty Barry-Deal (1955): First female to serve on the First District Court of Appeal in California (1980) Lillian Sing (1975): First Chinese American female judge in California (1981) Pauline Hanson (1946): First female to serve on the Fifth District Court of Appeal in California (1985) Sheila Prell Sonenshine: First Jewish American female to serve as a Judge of a California Court of Appeal (1985) Lillian Y. Lim (1977): First Filipino American female judge in California (1986) Patricia D. Benke (1974): First female to serve on the Fourth District Court of Appeal (1987) Joyce L. Kennard: First disabled and Asian American (female) to serve on the California Court of Appeal (1988) and California Supreme Court (1994) Shala Sabet (1985): First Iranian American female judge in California (1993) Ramona Perez (1972): First Latino American female to serve on the California Court of Appeal (1993) Kathleen Akao (1982): First Asian American female elected as a judge in California (1994) Janice Rogers Brown (1977): First African American female to serve on the Third District Court of Appeal in California (1994) Abby Abinanti (1974): First Native American (Yurok) female judge in California Janice Rogers Brown (1977): First African American female to serve on the California Supreme Court (1996) Rosemary Pfeiffer (1977): First openly LGBT (female) to serve as a Presiding Judge in California (2000) Eileen Moore: First female veteran to serve as a Judge of the California Court of Appeal (2000) Tammy Chung Ryu (1987): First Korean American female judge in California (2002) Barbara Kronlund: First South Asian American female judge in California (2005) Le Jacqueline Duong: First Vietnamese American female judge in California (2007) Carol Codrington (1987): First African American female to serve on the Fourth District Court of Appeal in California (2010) Cheri Pham: First Vietnamese American (female) elected as a judge in California (2010) Kathleen O'Leary (1975): First female to serve as the Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal (2011) Victoria Kolakowski (1991): First openly LGBT judge elected in California (2011) Tani Cantil-Sakauye (1984): First Asian-Filipino American female to serve as the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court (2011) Therese M. Stewart (1982): First openly LGBT female to serve on the California Court of Appeal (2014) Carin T. Fujisaki (1985): First Asian-Pacific Islander female to serve on the First District Court of Appeal in California (2018) Marsha G. Slough (1987): First openly LGBT female to serve on the Fourth District Court of Appeal (2015) Neetu Badhan Smith: First female Sikh judge in California (2017) Dorothy Kim (2000): First Korean American (female) to serve on the Second District Court of Appeal in California (2018) Jana Seng: First Cambodian American (female) judge in California (2018) Amy Ashvanian: First Armenian-born (female) judge in California (2018) Teri L. Jackson (1981): First African American female to serve on the First District Court of Appeal in California (2020) Truc T. Do (1997): First Asian American (female of Vietnamese descent) to serve on the Fourth District Court of Appeal in California (2020) Andi Mudryk: First openly LGBT judge appointed in California (2022) Laurie Earl: First openly LGBT female to serve on the Third District Court of Appeal in California (2022) Patricia Guerrero: First Latino American female to serve on the California Supreme Court (2022) and its Chief Justice (2023) Pahoua C. Lor (2009): First Hmong American female appointed to serve as judge in California (2022) Kelli Evans: First openly (African American) lesbian to serve on the California Supreme Court (2022) Cheri Pham: First Vietnamese American (female) to serve as an Assistant Presiding Judge in California (2023) Shama H. Mesiwala (1998): First South Asian American and Muslim (female) to serve as a Judge of a California Court of Appeal (2023) Malalai Farooqi: First Afghan American (female) judge in California (2026)

Federal judges Shirley Hufstedler (1950): First female to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1968) Mariana Pfaelzer (1957): First female to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1978) Saundra Brown Armstrong (1977): First African American female to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (1991) Marilyn Hall Patel (1963): First female to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (1980) and its Chief Judge (1997) Kim McLane Wardlaw (1979): First Hispanic American female to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1998) Consuelo B. Marshall (1962): First female (and African American female) to serve as the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (2001) Audrey B. Collins (1977): First African American female judge to serve as Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (2009) Dolly M. Gee (1984): First Chinese American female to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (2010) Donna Ryu:Honorable Donna Ryu, Asian Pacific American Woman Lawyers Alliance, http://www.apawla.org/donnaryuNote: the second Asian American woman lawyer and Korean American federal judge of the Northern District of California is U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh. First openly LGBT female to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (2010). She is also the first Korean American (female) judge on the court. Jacqueline Nguyen (1991): First Vietnamese American female to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers (1991): First Latino American female justice to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (2011) Lucy H. Koh (1993): First Korean American female to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (2010) Kimberly J. Mueller (1995): First female to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (2010) Phyllis J. Hamilton (1976): First African American female judge to serve as the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (2014) Jinsook Ohta: First Asian American female (who is of Korean descent) to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (2021) Sunshine Sykes (2002): First Native American (Navajo) [female] to serve on the United States District Court for the Central District of California (2022) Holly A. Thomas (2004): First African American female to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2022) Ana de Alba: First Latino American female to serve as the Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (2022) Roopali Desai: First South Asian (female) to serve as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (upon taking oath; confirmed 2022) Rita F. Lin: First Chinese American female to serve as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (2023) Kenly Kiya Kato: First Japanese American female to serve as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California (2023)

Attorney General

Elizabeth Palmer: First female to temporarily serve as the Attorney General of California (1976) Kamala Harris (1989): First (African American and Indian American) female to serve as the Attorney General of California (2011–2017)

Deputy Attorneys General

Miriam Wolff and Pauli Murray (1945): First females to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of California respectively in 1945 and 1946. Murray was also the first African American female.

Assistant Attorney General

Doris H. Maier (1935): First female Assistant Attorney General of California (1961) Andrea Sheridan Ordin: First female to serve as the Chief Assistant Attorney General of California (1983)

United States Attorney

Annette Abbott Adams (1912): First female to serve as a U.S. for the Northern District of California (1918–1920)