The first woman lawyer to plead a case before a jury in Massachusetts, Anna Christy Fall (1855-1930) was educated in the public schools of her hometown of Chelsea, Massachusetts. She attended Boston University receiving a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Juris Doctor degree from the School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 1891.

Fall’s interest in law began while taking notes in the courtroom for her husband, lawyer and mayor George Howard Fall of Malden, Massachusetts. She took the admission test for the Massachusetts Bar while still a student, the only woman in a cohort of forty applicants. Working in partnership with her husband, Fall also became the first woman to argue a case before the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

Author of The Tragedy of a Widow’s Third, Fall lectured throughout the state on the “Position of Women under the Massachusetts Law.” She and her husband were both involved in the women’s suffrage movement and civics. She served a three-year term on the Malden School Board. Her daughter, lawyer Emma Latimer Fall Schofield, became the first female judge in New England, along with Sadie Lipner Shulman.