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MWL History: "A Rich and Inspiring Past"
“The law is noted for its conservatism, and especially so is that class of lawyers and judges who have made their profession a life study, and believe that a lawyer can only attain to a standing worthy of his calling by a life-long application thereto. The part assigned to women by nature, is as a rule, inconsistent with this idea. The work which the wives and mothers of our land are called upon to perform, and the part they are to take in training and educating the young, and which none other can do so well, forbids that they shall bestow that time (early and late) and labor, so essential in attaining to the eminence to which the true lawyer should ever aspire.” So ruled Judge Young in Minnesota in 1876 when he was called upon to consider the application of Martha Angle Dorsett, the first woman to apply for admission to the Minnesota Bar. Ironically, that very same Judge Young commented to a newspaper reporter that, “The lady passed the best examination of any applicant for admission that has been presented for a long time.”[1] Apparently, the Minneapolis press was also not very supportive of Ms. Dorsett's application for admission. Under the headline “No Woman Need Apply,” the Minneapolis Tribune declared that: “According to Judge Young's decision in the matter of the application of Mrs. Dorsett for admission to the Hennepin County Bar -- and it is undoubted law -- women cannot be admitted to practice law in the State of Minnesota -- and the majority of that sex say Amen.” Id. Apparently without pause, Ms. Dorsett and her husband turned to the legislature and campaigned successfully throughout the fall and winter to have the admission statute amended. On the morning of February 27th, 1877, the Minnesota Legislature convened (with devotional exercises conducted by the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, the famous abolitionist and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe) and the House considered and passed by a vote of 63 to 30, a bill that opened the practice of law in Minnesota to women. And so began the practice of law by women in Minnesota. Even before Minnesota Women Lawyers was founded in 1972, some 95 years later, women lawyers reached out to one another for mutual support. In 1927, the first local chapter of the National Women's Law Sorority, Phi Delta Delta was established. Although the sorority served to support and encourage the professional development of women lawyers in Minnesota, it retained old fashioned traditions including the donning of pink robes and the kneeling on pink pillows during initiation proceedings. When the sorority merged with the Men's Legal Fraternity in August, 1972, several women, including Rosalie Wahl, Irene Scott, Esther Tomljanovich, Judy Oakes and Nancy Olkon, proposed the formation of MWL to continue “the tradition of dialogue and service to the profession.” Irene Scott, who had been the last president of the local Phi Delta Delta Chapter, became MWL's founding president and Camilla Reiersgord, its first secretary/treasurer. MWL's first focus was to advocate for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Minnesota. Women made great strides in the law in the 1970s, including the historic appointment of Rosalie Wahl as the first woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1977. Before the end of that decade, Esther Tomljanovich was appointed to the 10th Judicial District bench as the second female District Court Judge. During the presidency of Margaret Mahoney, MWL held a press conference to publicly urge the appointment of a woman to the United States District Court for Minnesota and recommended four candidates – Diana Murphy, Roberta Levy, Delores Orey and Susanne Sedgwick. Diana Murphy became the first woman appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. In the 1980s, MWL expanded its services and involvement in the community. During the presidency of Sheryl Ramstad Hvass, in 1981, the MWL Task Force on the Status of Women in the Legal Profession was created. Seven more female candidates were endorsed for District Court vacancies. In 1983, during the presidency of Marsha Freeman, the MWL Task Force on the Status of Women in the Legal Profession report was published and gained considerable national attention. This report was the first statewide effort of its kind and took a hard, critical, comprehensive look at the status of women in the legal profession. During Ms. Freeman's presidency, the Myra Bradwell Award was also established. The 1980s also saw the development of the Mentorship Program established for law students which remains one of MWL's most successful programs. Finally, during the presidency of Judge Beryl Nord, MWL published a report entitled “Career Paths of Minnesota Law School Graduates” and established the first MWL Holiday Benefit to raise money for Minnesota battered women's shelters. During the 1990s, MWL's profile rose to new unforeseen heights. MWL hosted a celebration for Justice Rosalie Wahl upon her retirement from the Minnesota Supreme Court, with nearly 800 in attendance. As a result, the Rosalie Wahl Leadership Lecture Fund was established at the Minneapolis Foundation and funds an annual lecture on women and leadership. MWL began to attract extraordinary speakers at its Annual Meeting, including The Honorable Sandra Day O'Connor, Janet Reno, Coretta Scott King, Anita Hill, Cokie Roberts, Marian Wright Edelman, and in 2002, The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, 19th Prime Minister of Canada. I know I speak for many others when I say that we take great pride in this extraordinary organization. Committed to securing the full and equal participation of women in the legal profession and in a just society, MWL continues to grow and expand its multitude of services and programming throughout the state and promises to do so for many decades to come. [1]Woxland, Thomas A., “In Re Dorsett: Opening the Minnesota Bar to Women”, The Bench and Bar of Minnesota, November, 1990 at 245.
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