This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Utah. 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 Utah's history
Lawyers
First females: Phoebe Couzins and Georgia Snow (1872) First female from Utah to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Agnes Swan around 1912 First female to practice before the U. S. District Court for the District of Utah: Beryl Bonner Meyers (1926) First Asian American female: Eunice Chen (1973) First Native American female: Mary Ellen Sloan (1975) First Hispanic American female: Sheila K. McCleve (1977): First African American female: Denise M. Mercherson (1979)
State judges
First female: Reva Beck Bosone (1930) in 1936
First female (Third Judicial District): Christine M. Durham (1978) First female (Utah Supreme Court): Christine M. Durham (1978) in 1982 First Hispanic American female: Frances M. Palacios (1980) in 1992 First Hispanic American (female) (district court): Denise Posse-Blanco Lindberg in 1998 First African American female: Shauna Graves-Robertson (1990) in 1999 First female (Fourth Judicial District): Claudia Laycock in 2001 First female (Chief Justice; Utah Supreme Court): Christine M. Durham (1978) in 2002 First female (Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals): Carolyn B. McHugh (1982) in 2014 First openly LGBT (female): Camille Neider in 2017
Federal judges
First female (U.S. Bankruptcy Court): Judith Boulden (1974) in 1988
First female (U.S. District Court for the District of Utah): Tena Campbell (1977) in 1995
Attorney General
First female: Jan Graham (1980) from 1993 to 2001
United States Attorney
First Latino American female (Acting United States Attorney for the District of Utah): Andrea T. Martinez in 2021
Bar Associations
First female president (Utah State Bar): Pamela Greenwood (1972) in 1990
First minority (female) president (Utah State Bar): Angelina Tsu in 2015
First female president (Utah chapter–Federal Bar Association): Christine Fitzgerald Soltis (1975)
Firsts in local history
Claudia Laycock: First female district court judge in Juab, Millard, Utah and Wasatch Counties, Utah (2001) Christine M. Durham (1978): First female district court judge for Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele Counties, Utah (1978) Cheryl Ann Russell (1976): First female lawyer in Logan, Utah [Cache County, Utah] Reva Beck Bosone (1930): First female lawyer in Carbon County, Utah Patricia Geary: First female to become the County Attorney for Emery County, Utah (c. 1992) Rebekah W. Hornbein (c. 1915): First female law graduate from the University of Utah [Salt Lake County, Utah] Margret Sidwell Taylor (1970): First female to work as a lawyer for the Public Defender's Office for Salt Lake County, Utah Sheila K. McCleve (1977): First female to work as a full-time prosecutor in Salt Lake City, Utah Patricia J. Marlowe (1973): First female to serve as the Deputy County Attorney for Salt Lake City, Utah [Salt Lake County, Utah] Lisa Garner: First female to serve as a Judge of the Draper Justice Court (2022) [Salt Lake and Utah Counties, Utah] Elizabeth Kronk Warner: First (Native American) female to serve as the Dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law (2019) Barbara G. Hjelle: First resident female lawyer in Washington County, Utah Karla Staheli: First female judge in Fifth District Court serving Juvenile Court in Washington County, Utah