This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Kentucky. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Kentucky's history

Lawyers

First female: Sophonisba Breckinridge (1895) First African American female: Sallie J. Seals White (1904) First African American female prosecutor: Alberta O. Jones (1959)

List of first women lawyers and judges in Kentucky

State judges

First female: Kathleen Mulligan in 1928

First female (Kentucky Court of Appeals): Judy Moberly West in 1987

First African American female: Janice R. Martin (1977) in 1991

First female elected (Kentucky Supreme Court): Janet Stumbo in 1993

First female to sit (Kentucky Supreme Court): Sara Walter Combs (1979) in 1993

First female (Sixth Judicial District): Lisa Ann Payne in 2001

First female (Chief Judge; Kentucky Court of Appeals): Sara Walter Combs (1979) from 2004-2010 First African American female (Kentucky Court of Appeals): Denise G. Clayton in 2007 First female (Forty-Third Judicial Circuit): Traci Peppers in 2014 First female (Nineteenth Judicial District Court): Kim Leet Razor in 2018 First female (Third Supreme Court District of the Supreme Court of Kentucky): Debra Hembree Lambert in 2019 First African American female (circuit court): Denise G. Clayton First Latino American female: Ellie Kerstetter in 2020 First openly lesbian female (family court): Shelley Santry in 2022 First African American (female) (Chief Judge; Kentucky Court of Appeals): Denise G. Clayton in 2023

List of first women lawyers and judges in Kentucky

Federal judges

First female (Eastern District of Kentucky): Julia Kurtz Tackett

First female (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky; U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky: Jennifer B. Coffman (1978) in 1993

List of first women lawyers and judges in Kentucky