List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii

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

Law School

First Hawaiian Nisei female law graduate: Patsy Mink (1953) in 1951

Lawyers

First female (prior to overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii): Almeda Eliza Hitchcock (1888) First female (sign the “Roll of Attorneys” for the federal district court): Elizabeth Helena Ryan (1896) in 1900 First female (practicing in the Territory of Hawaii): Marguerite Kamehaokalani Ashford (1916) First Asian American female: Sau Ung Loo Chan (1942) First Japanese American female: Patsy Mink (1953) First Samoan-born female: Saisamoa F. Grey Price (2017)

State judges

First female (Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Kingdom):Frear, Walter F. (1894). "Evolution of the Hawaiian Judiciary". Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society (7). Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society. hdl:10524/966. Miriam Kekāuluohi in 1840 First female (Commissioner of Private Ways and Water Rights): Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina from 1892-1907 First female (Hawaii Supreme Court): Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1935 First female (district magistrate): Edna Jenkins in 1937 First female: Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1934 First Asian American female: Marybeth Yuen Maul circa 1957 First female (appointed; Supreme Court of Hawaii): Rhoda Valentine Lewis (c. 1929) in 1959 First female (family court): Betty Vitousek in 1970 First female (circuit court): Marie Milks in 1984 First African American female: Sandra A. Simms in 1991Upon Simms' appointment as a Judge of the District Court of the First Circuit in 1991 First female (Second Circuit Court): Harriette L. Holt in 1990 First openly lesbian female (Hawaii Supreme Court): Sabrina McKenna (1982) in 2011 First female of Native Hawaiian descent (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals): Sonja McCullen in 2021

Federal judges First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii): Helen W. Gillmor in 1994 First Asian American female (U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii): Susan Oki Mollway (1981) in 1998 First Native Hawaiian female (United States District Court for the District of Hawaii): Shanlyn A. S. Park in 2023

Attorney General of Hawaii

First female (partial term): Corinne K.A. Watanabe (1974) from 1985-1987 First female (full term): Margery Bronster (1982) from 1995-1999

Deputy Attorney General

First female: Marguerite Kamehaokalani Ashford (1916) in 1925

United States Attorney

First female: Florence T. Nakakuni in 2009

Assistant United States Attorney

First female: Carrick Hume Buck (1921) in 1925

Political Office

First Asian-born (Japanese descent) female (senator): Mazie Hirono (1978) in 2012

Hawaii Bar Association

First female president: Sherry Broder (1975)

Firsts in local history Carrick Hume Buck (1921): First female to serve as the Assistant District Attorney and Deputy City and County Attorney for Honolulu City-County, Hawaii (1925) Jean Vaughan Gilbert (1944): First female to serve as the Honolulu City-County Attorney Camille A. Nelson: First (African American) female to serve as the Dean of the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law (2020) Edna Jenkins: First female to serve as the district magistrate for Makawao, Hawaii (1937) [Maui County, Hawaii] Linda Breslau Berg: First female lawyer in Maui [Maui County, Hawaii]

List of first women lawyers and judges in Hawaii

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