Women of Harvard Law

Happy Women’s History Month! Like I did for February and Black History Month, I want to end March by recounting the achievements of women preceding me at Harvard Law. Below are seven notable graduates from HLS, as well as several “female firsts” at the institution.

Quick side note - women have been at HLS for less than seventy years, so - more to come.

In 1947, Soia Mentschikoff became the first woman to teach at HLS.

MICHELLE OBAMA

Former First Lady, author, and lawyer

Michelle Obama was born in Chicago in 1964 and graduated from HLS in 1988. She worked in a law firm for a few years (where she met Barack!) before turning to public service for the city. Michelle worked in various non-profits, as associate dean of student services for U Chicago, and as VP for community and external affairs at the U Chicago Medical Center. In 2008, she became the first Black FLOTUS alongside the 44th President of the United States.

During her eight years as First Lady, Michelle was a staunch advocate for service members and their families, higher education (with emphasis on trade schools and community colleges!), international girls’ education, and health education. Her most notable initiative was Let’s Move!, a program intended to end childhood obesity. She is also - obviously - a fashion icon, and delivered speeches at four successive Democratic National Conventions.

Wow Factor: In 2020, Michelle topped Gallup’s poll of “Most Admired Women in America” for the third year in a row!

In 1953, the first class of women graduated from Harvard Law School.

MARY ROBINSON

First female President of Ireland

Mary Robinson is an Irish lawyer, politician, and diplomat. Ms. Robinson earned her LLM from HLS in 1968, and she credits the school for her early start in Irish politics. “What I took from Harvard,” she said, “was the fact that young people were taking responsibility and making a difference. [In Ireland,] maybe in your late 40s you got a chance. But because I was a graduate of HLS, I stood for Parliament at 25.”

As Ireland’s President, Mary Robinson gave the office a more modern, visible role. From 1990 to 1997, she worked to decriminalize homosexuality and make contraception widely available. Mrs. Robinson actually resigned from the Presidency early to take up the post of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which she held for five years. She served as secretary-general of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001, and then as chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin from 1998 to 2019.

Fun Fact: In July 2009, Mary Robinson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama!

In 1954, Pricilla Holmes was the first woman elected to Harvard Law Review (didn’t take long, huh?)

JANET RENO

First female U.S. Attorney General

Janet Reno graduated from HLS in 1963, and began her career in politics in 1971 as staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives. She was elected the state’s Attorney General in 1978 and was re-elected five times despite being a Democrat in a largely Republican area! In 1993, President Clinton appointed Mrs. Reno to the position of U.S. Attorney General - the first woman to hold that position.

During her eight years as AG, she handled the siege in Waco, Texas; the prosecutions of the Unabomber and Oklahoma City bombers; and the controversial situation surrounding Cuban immigrant Elian Gonzalez. Though she was heavily criticized for many of her actions, Janet is still seen as one of the most highly respected members of Clinton’s administration. As she demonstrated post-Waco, she was not afraid to take public accountability for her decisions. Mrs. Reno died from complications of Parkinson’s disease in 2016, which she battled for over twenty years.

Fun Fact: In several SNL skits called “Janet Reno’s Dance Party,” the sitting AG was portrayed by Will Ferrell!

In 1956, Lila Fenwick became the first African-American graduate at HLS.

LORETTA LYNCH

First African-American female U.S. Attorney General

Loretta Lynch grew up on the law, literally spending hours watching trials in the courthouse of Durham, North Carolina. She graduated from both Harvard College (1981 - English major!) and Harvard Law School (1984) and began her legal career as a litigation associate for a law firm in NYC. After almost a decade in the US Attorney’s Office, she was nominated the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York by President Clinton. Following that term, she spent nearly a decade as a partner in a law firm before President Obama nominated her to again serve as US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

On November 8, 2014, Loretta was nominated as the 83rd US Attorney General of the United States. She became the first African-American woman, second African-American, and second woman to hold the position. During her tenure as AG, Ms. Lynch made police reform a priority for the Department of Justice.

Fun Fact: Loretta Lynch has been involved in several different high-profile sports scandals. She supervised the long-running investigation into corruption by FIFA officials, and has been hired by the NFL to investigate misconduct among the owners of the Washington Football Team.

In 1972, Elisabeth Owens became the first woman granted tenure at HLS.

ELENA KAGAN

Supreme Court Justice, first female Solicitor General & Dean of HLS

Elena Kagan is from NYC and holds degrees from Princeton, Oxford, and Harvard Law School. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall before taking up professorship at the University of Chicago Law School (woohoo, Windy City!). After a brief stint as policy advisor for President Clinton, Elena transitioned back to HLS as a professor and, in 2003, the school’s first female dean in 2003.

She remained in that position until 2009, when she was named the first female Solicitor General under President Obama. Just one year later, the President nominated her to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. On August 5, 2010, Elena Kagan was confirmed by the Senate as SCOTUS’ fourth female justice.

Fun fact: Justice Kagan spoke to my law school class during orientation, and legend has it that she’s responsible for the free coffee in Wasserstein. Can you say…personal hero?

In 1974, Susan Estrich was the first woman elected President of the Harvard Law Review.

AMY CHUA

Lawyer, Author, and Yale Law Professor

Amy Chua is originally from Champaign, IL and grew up in the midwest until she was 8 (that should please a large section of this audience!) She graduated from Harvard College in 1984 and Harvard Law School in 1987 (where she was also the executive editor of the Harvard Law Review…no biggie). She then clerked on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, worked in international relations for a Wall Street firm, and became a professor for first Duke, then Yale. She’s written three New York Times bestsellers called World on Fire, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and The Triple Package. In 2011 Amy was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. She is still a professor at Yale, where her husband is also tenured.

Fun Facts: Her daughter, Lulu, is in my law school section - and if you’ve ever heard the term “Tiger Mom,” that came from Amy Chua!

In 2013, Haben Girma was the first deaf-blind HLS graduate.

DEBORAH BATTS

First openly gay, African-American federal judge and professor at Fordham Law

Deborah Batts was born in 1947 Philadelphia, and graduated from Harvard Law in 1972. After working as a federal prosecutor during the 1980s and early ‘90s, a New York senator suggested that she apply for a position as a federal judge. She was nominated for that role by Bill Clinton in 1994, and served for over 25 years on the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judge Batts presided over many high-profile cases during her tenure, including the civil case of the Central Park Five. In that case, she rejected the city’s motion to dismiss; seven years later, the city settled with the five men for almost $41M. She was also the first African-American professor at Fordham University, a position she maintained during her time on the bench. Judge Batts was close personal friends with now-Justice Sonya Sotomayor. She was set to preside over the embezzlement trial of Michael Avenatti (the lawyer accused of stealing $300K from his client, Stormy Daniels) when she tragically passed away following surgery complications in 2020.

Fun Fact: Judge Batts was sworn in as a federal judge on June 23, 1994 - right in the middle of Gay Pride Week!

Incredible Fact: Following Judge Batts’ death, another LGBT judge said that she “literally broke down the closet door and allowed the rest of us to walk through it.”

In 2017, ImeIme Umana became the first Black woman elected President of the Harvard Law Review.

Finally, as an added bonus…

RUTH BADER GINSBURG

Supreme Court Justice

Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t *technically* graduate from Harvard Law - but she’s on my list nonetheless. RBG attended HLS for her first two years of law school, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She simultaneously took care of her husband Marty, who battled cancer while completing his own HLS JD, and her daughter Jane. Marty got a job in NYC following graduation, but Harvard wouldn’t allow RBG to finish her degree at a different school. So she transferred to Columbia Law, where she graduated top of her class in 1959 and served as editor of the Columbia Law Review. Can you say…iconic?

Following graduation, RBG worked as a professor, litigator, founder of the Women’s Rights Project for the ACLU, and judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In 1993, President Clinton nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - she was confirmed by a vote of 96-3, and became the second woman (and first Jewish woman) to wear the robes on August 10, 1993. After a quarter century on SCOTUS and battling through several rounds of cancer, RBG passed away on September 18, 2020.

Fun Fact: Scalia-Ginsburg, an American opera by composer Derrick Wang, is literally about the unlikely “friendship in a divided world” between RBG and her conservative counterpart, Justice Antonin Scalia!

And that’s a wrap on Women’s History Month 2021! Thanks for reading - I look forward to expanding this list in the future.