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

Lawyers

First female (bar in the Dakota Territory): Cynthia Eloise Cleveland (1883) First female (South Dakota after statehood): Estelle Julia Owen (March 1893), Nellie A. Douglass (June 1893)Lindell, Lisa R. “‘Awake to all the needs of our day’: Early Women Lawyers in South Dakota.” South Dakota History 42(3) (Fall 2012). First female to take exam before the South Dakota Supreme Court: Katie Rockford (1897) First female to practice before South Dakota's federal courts: Dorothy Rehfeld

State judges

First female: Mildred Ramynke (1939) in 1958 First female (Fifth Judicial District): Mildred Ramynke (1939) in 1975 First female (Supreme Court of South Dakota): Judith Meierhenry (1977) in 2002

Federal judges First female (U.S. District Judge for the District of South Dakota): Karen Schreier in 1999

Assistant Attorney General

First female: Frances "Fran" Lowenstein

United States Attorney

First female: Karen Schreier in 1993

State Bar of South Dakota

First female admitted: Blanche Colman (1911) First female presidents: Stephanie Pochop and Pamela Reiter respectively from 2016-2017 and 2017-2018

Firsts in local history

Mildred Ramynke (1939): First female appointed as a Judge of the Fifth Judicial District (1975) [Day, Grant, Marshall and Roberts Counties, South Dakota] Marjorie Breeden (1907): First female to graduate from the University of South Dakota Law School in Clay County, South Dakota Linda Lea M. Viken: First female to serve as a Magistrate Judge for Pennington County, South Dakota Shawn Pahlke: First female to serve as the Director of the Pennington County Public Defender’s Office, South Dakota Lara Roetzel: First female to serve as Pennington County’s State’s Attorney (2025)

See also

List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States Timeline of women lawyers in the United States Women in law

Other topics of interest

List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States List of first minority male lawyers and judges in South Dakota

References