List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Arizona

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Arizona. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions, such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Arizona's history

Lawyers

First African American men: William Watkins (1921) and Hayzel Burton Daniels (1948) First Hispanic American man: Joseph C. Padilla (1936) First Asian American man: Wing F. Ong (1943): First Native American (Pascua Yaqui Tribe) man: Lawrence Huerta (1953) First Native American (Gila River Indian Community) man: Rodney B. Lewis (1972) First undocumented man: Daniel Rodriguez in 2014

State judges

First Jewish American man: Charles C. Bernstein (1929) in 1946 First Mexican American man (Superior Court of Arizona): Raúl Héctor Castro (1949) in 1959 First Jewish American man (Supreme Court of Arizona; chief justice): Charles C. Bernstein (1929) in 1962 First Asian American man (Superior Court): Thomas Tang in 1962 First African American man: Hayzel Burton Daniels (1948) in 1965 First Hispanic American man (Arizona Appeals Court): Joe W. Contreras in 1979 First African American man (Arizona Appeals Court): Cecil B. Patterson Jr. (1971) in 1985 First Latino American man (Supreme Court of Arizona): John Lopez IV (1998) in 2016

Federal judges

First Asian American man (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Arizona): Thomas Tang (1950) in 1977 First Hispanic American man (U.S. District Court): Valdemar Aguirre Cordova (1950) in 1979 First African American man (chief judge; U.S. District Court): Raner Collins (1975) in 2013 First Asian American man (Article III judge; U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona): Sharad H. Desai in 2024

Attorney general of Arizona

First African American man (counsel at the Arizona Attorney General's Office): Cecil B. Patterson Jr. (1971) First Jewish American man: Tom Horne (1970) 2011-2015

Assistant attorneys general

First Hispanic American man: Albert García (1937) First African American man: Hayzel Burton Daniels (1948)

County attorney

First Mexican American man: Raúl Héctor Castro (1949) 1954-1959

Political office

First Mexican American man (governor of Arizona): Raúl Héctor Castro (1949) 1975-1977

State bar of Arizona

First Asian American man (president): Thomas Tang in 1977 First Latino American man (president): Ernest Calderón in 2002 First African American man (president): Benjamin Taylor in 2023

Firsts in local history Greg Garcia: Reputed to be the first Hispanic American male lawyer in Maricopa County, Arizona Valdemar Aguirre Cordova (1950): First Hispanic American male judge in Maricopa County, Arizona (1965) Cecil B. Patterson Jr. (1971): First African American man to serve on the Maricopa County Superior Court Kevin Kane: First openly LGBT man to serve on the Phoenix Municipal Court (2006) Raúl Héctor Castro (1949): First Mexican American man to serve on the Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona (1959) Rubin Salter, Jr.: First African American male lawyer in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona (c. 1964) Harry Gin: First Chinese American man to serve on the Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona (1975) James Don: First Chinese American man to serve as the Pinal County attorney and a judge of the Pinal County Superior Court, Arizona

See also

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

Other topics of interest

List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States List of first women lawyers and judges in Arizona

References