Jill Norgren Knihy

In this collection, legal historian Jill Norgren presents the oral histories of one hundred remarkable American women lawyers who transformed the legal profession. Many of these narratives are shared for the first time, highlighting the women's struggles for access to law schools and equitable legal careers. They confronted established norms and shattered the glass ceiling in law. Norgren interweaves these interviews with social and legal history, illustrating the significant changes that began in the late 1960s. In 1950, when many of these women were children, the landscape was stark: only a handful of women were admitted to law schools each year, and their career prospects were limited compared to their male counterparts. For instance, Harvard Law School only began admitting women in 1950, and throughout the 1970s, female students often faced discouragement from male peers who argued they were taking spots better suited for future male lawyers. In 2005, the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession launched an initiative to document the experiences of senior women lawyers through interviews with younger colleagues, allowing these trailblazers to share their stories of pain, triumph, humor, and reflection.