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

Gloria Bradford (1954): First African American woman to graduate from law school in Texas, earning her degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1954 Hattie Ruth Elam Briscoe: First African American woman to graduate from St. Mary's Law School in Texas (1956)

Lawyers

Edith W. Locke (1902): First woman admitted to practice law in Texas, though she did not exercise the right Hortense Sparks Ward (1910): First female lawyer in Texas, as well as the first woman admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court (1915) Florence Bates (1914): One of the first female lawyers in Texas; left the profession and become a Hollywood actress later in life Beverly Tarpley (1952): First female lawyer in Texas to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court Charlye O. Farris (1953): First African American female lawyer in Texas Edna Cisneros (1955) and Diana Cisneros Klefisch (1956): First Hispanic American female lawyers in Texas

Judicial officers

State

Judges

Sarah T. Hughes (1922): First female judge in Texas (1935)Upon Hughes' appointment as a judge of the District Court in Texas in 1935 Charlye O. Farris (1953): First African American woman to serve as a judge pro tem in Texas (1954) Harriet Mitchell Murphy (1969): First African American female judge in Texas (1973) Wendy Duong: First Vietnamese American (female) judge in Texas (1992) Orlinda Naranjo: First Latino American woman elected to a countywide judgeship in Texas (1994) Barbara Hartle (1999): First openly LGBT female judge in Texas (2006) Phyllis Frye (1981): First openly LGBT judge in Texas (2010) Tonya Parker: First openly LGBT African American (female) elected to a judicial seat in Texas (2010) Rabeea Sultan Collier: First Muslim American and Pakistani American (female) judge in Texas (2019) Manpreet Monica Singh: First Sikh female judge in Texas (2023)

Business courts

Sofia Adrogué: First (Latino American) female judge of the Texas Business Court (2024)

County courts

Mary Velma Davenport: First female county judge in Texas (c. 1938) Charlye O. Farris (1953): First African American woman elected as a county judge pro tem in Texas (1954) Alicia R. Chacón: First Latino American woman elected as a judge of a major county in Texas (c. 1990s)

Municipal courts

Barbara Hartle (1999): First openly LGBT woman to become a municipal court judge in Texas (2006) Phyllis Frye (1981): First openly LGBT individual appointed as a municipal court judge in Texas (2010)

District courts

Sarah T. Hughes (1922): First woman appointed as a judge of a District Court in Texas (1935) Elma Salinas Ender (1978): First Latino American woman to serve as a state district court judge in Texas (1983)Upon Ender's appointment as a judge of the 341st Judicial District of Texas in 1983 Mary Roman: First Latino American woman elected as a state district court judge in Texas (1992) Kristen Hawkins (2000): First woman elected as a judge of the 11th District Court in Texas (2017) Renee Rodriguez-Betancourt: First woman to become the youngest district court judge in Texas (2017)Upon Rodriguez-Betancourt's appointment as a judge of the Four Hundred and Forty-Ninth State District Court in 2017

Courts of appeals

Shirley W. Butts (1954): First woman appointed as a justice on a Texas court of appeals, the Fourth Court of Appeals (1981) Camille Hutson–Dunn (1963): First woman to be directly elected as a justice on a Texas Court of Appeals, the First Court of Appeals (1984) Alice Oliver–Parrott (1975): First woman to serve as a chief justice on a Texas appellate court, the First Court of Appeals (1991–1996)Upon Oliver-Parrott's appointment as a chief justice for the First Court of Appeals in Texas (1991) Gaynelle Griffin Jones: First African American woman to serve as an appellate court judge in Texas (1992)Upon Jones becoming a justice of the First Court of Appeals in Texas in 1992 Linda Reyna Yáñez: First woman to serve as a justice of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in Texas (1993) Leanne Johnson: First woman elected to serve as a justice of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for Texas (2014) Gisela Triana: First Latino American woman to serve as a judge of the Third District Court of Appeals (2018) Robbie Partida-Kipness: First Hispanic American (female) to serve as a judge of the Fifth Court of Appeals in Texas (2018) Dori Contreras: First female justice appointed as the chief justice of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in Texas (2019)At the time of her appointment, Contreras was "only the second Latina to lead a Texas appellate court." Frances Bourliot: First Asian American woman elected as an appellate court judge in Texas, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals (2020)Upon Bourliot's being elected as a judge of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Texas (2019) Yvonne T. Rodriguez: First Latino American woman to serve as the chief justice of the Eighth Court of Appeals (2021)

Court of criminal appeals

Sharon Keller (1978): First woman to serve as the presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas (2000) Elsa Alcala: First Latino American woman to serve as a judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas (2011)

Supreme court

Hattie L. Henenberg: First Jewish woman to serve on the Texas Supreme Court (upon her appointment to the "All-Woman" Texas Supreme Court in 1925) Margaret Harris Amsler (1937): First woman to serve as the Marshall of the Supreme Court of Texas (1941) Ruby Kless Sondock (1961): First woman appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas (1982) Rose Spector: First woman (who was also Jewish) elected as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas (1992) Eva Guzman: First Hispanic woman appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas (2009)

Federal

District court

Sarah T. Hughes (1922): First woman appointed as a judge of the Federal District Court (1961) in Texas Barbara M.G. Lynn (1976): First woman to become the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (2016) Gabrielle Kirk McDonald: First African American woman and first woman appointed as a judge of the Southern District of Texas (1979) Hilda G. Tagle: First Hispanic American woman to serve as an appellate judge in TexasUpon Tagle's appointment as a judge of the U.S. States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1998 Janis Graham Jack: First woman to serve as a U.S. District judge for the Southern District of Texas (1994) Alia Moses (1986): First woman to serve as a judge of the U.S. States District Court for the Western District of Texas (2002) and its chief judge (2022) Brenda T. Rhoades: First Asian American (female) to serve as a judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas (2003) Judith K. Guthrie: First woman appointed as a magistrate judge of the U.S. States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Karen Gren Scholer: First Asian American (female) U.S. district court judge in Texas (2018) Ada E. Brown: First African American and Native American woman to serve as a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (2019) Yvonne Ho: First Asian American (female) to serve as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (2023)

Court of appeals

Carolyn Dineen King: First woman to serve as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1999)

Deputy attorney general

Elizabeth B. Lacy: First woman to serve as the deputy attorney general for Texas (1973)

Assistant attorney general

Ethel F. Hilton: First woman to serve as the assistant attorney general for Texas (1927–1931)

District attorney

Edna Cisneros (1955): First Hispanic American woman to become a district attorney in Texas Erleigh Norville Wiley: First African American woman to become a district attorney in Texas (2014)

Assistant district attorney

Sarah Menezes: First woman to serve as the assistant district attorney in Texas

United States attorney

Gaynelle Griffin Jones: First woman (and African American woman) to serve as a U.S. attorney for Texas (1993–1997) Sarah Saldaña: First Latino American woman to serve as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas (2011)

County attorney

Nellie Gray Robertson: First woman to serve as a county attorney in Texas (1918) Bridgette Smith-Lawson: First African American woman to serve as a county attorney in Texas (2020)

Political office

Barbara Jordan (1959): First African American female lawyer elected to the Texas Senate (1966) Irma L. Rangel (1969): First Hispanic American woman elected to the Texas State Legislature (1976) Sylvia Garcia (1978) and Veronica Escobar: First Hispanic American women (both former judges) elected to Congress in Texas (2018) Nandita Berry (1995): First Indian American woman (and Indian American in general; a lawyer) to serve as the secretary of state for Texas (c. 2014) Jolanda Jones (1995): First openly lesbian African American (a lawyer) elected to the Texas State Legislature (upon winning a special election in House District 147 in 2022)

Bar association

Harriet Miers (1970): First woman to serve as president of the State Bar of Texas (1992) Lisa Tatum: First African American woman (and African American in general) to serve as president of the State Bar of Texas (2013–2014) Sylvia Borunda Firth: First Hispanic American woman to serve as president of the State Bar of Texas (2020)

Firsts in local history Alphabetized by county name

Regions

Leticia Hinojosa: First female judge in the Rio Grande Valley (1996) Deborah Oakes Evans: First woman to serve as a judge of the 87th Judicial District (2002); Anderson, Freestone, Leon and Limestone counties Rachel Littlejohn: First female district court judge in South Texas (1974); Aransas, Bee, Live Oak, McMullen and San Patricio counties Trisha Coleman Byars: First woman to serve as a judge of the 97th Judicial District (2023); Archer, Clay, and Montague counties Audrey Gossett-Louis: First woman to serve as the district attorney for the 81st Judicial District; Atascosa, Frio, Karnes, LaSalle, and Wilson counties Erum Jivani-Gillani: First Asian American woman to serve as a judge of the Pearland Municipal Court (2018); Brazoria, Fort Bend and Harris counties Barbara Walther: First woman elected as a judge of the 51st District Court (1992); Coke, Irion, Schleicher, Sterling and Tom Green counties Angela Saucier: First woman to serve as a judge of the 76th Judicial District (2019); Camp, Morris and Titus counties Hortense Sparks Ward (1910): First female lawyer in Houston, Texas; Fort Bend, Harris and Montgomery counties Lois L. Woods: First African American female graduate from the Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law (1951); Fort Bend, Harris, and Montgomery counties Lynne Liberato: First woman to serve as president of the Houston Bar Association (1993); Fort Bend County, Harris County and Montgomery counties Kristen Brauchle Hawkins: First woman appointed as a judge of the Eleventh District Court in Houston (2019); Fort Bend, Harris and Montgomery counties Irene Gertrude Brown (1911) and Rose Zelosky: First women to graduate from the University of Texas law school (1914); Hays, Travis and Williamson counties Sydney B. Hewlett: First woman to serve as a judge of the 18th Judicial District Court (2019); Johnson and Somervell counties Beverly Tarpley (1952): First woman to serve as president of the Abilene Bar Association; Jones and Taylor counties