The first woman admitted to the bar and practice in the courts of Massachusetts, Lelia Josephine Robinson Sawtelle (1850-1891), graduated cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1878, the first woman to do so.

Drawn to law as a means of support following her divorce at age 27, Sawtelle steadfastly lobbied for women to have the same status as their male counterparts. When denied admission to the Massachusetts Bar based on gender, she opened an independent practice, engaging male lawyers to conduct her cases in court. Sawtelle successfully lobbied the state legislature to change the law to allow both men and women to be admitted to the bar and received her license to practice as a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association.

In 1884, Sawtelle moved her practice to Seattle, Washington, a state receptive to women in the legal profession. Here, she was the first American female lawyer to argue a case before a jury that included both men and women. Sawtelle wrote extensively including a book on divorce, The Law of Husband and Wife.

The Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts remembers Sawtelle with the prestigious “Lelia J. Robinson Award ” to honor her mission to extend representation to all classes of people and build a society that is fair and just. Recipients include Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Janet Reno.

Sawtelle, who passed away at age 41, lived briefly in Amherst, New Hampshire where she is buried. Her epitaph reads: “The pioneer woman lawyer of Massachusetts, Author, and Journalist. A lover of the true, the good and the beautiful.”