A History of SMU Law Women

Erin Bain Jones ’28 enrolls in the first law school class at SMU and becomes the first woman to graduate from SMU School of Law

Patsy Smith ’49 graduates from SMU School of Law and becomes one of the first women attorneys in Lubbock

Louise B. Raggio ’52 becomes the first woman assistant district attorney in Dallas County

Ruby Braden Curl becomes the first African-American student admitted at SMU School of Law

Frances Spears Cloyd ’59 becomes the first woman to earn an L.L.M. degree from SMU School of Law

Earldean V.S. Robbins becomes the first African-American student to graduate from SMU School of Law

Adelfa Botello Callejo ’61 becomes the first Hispanic woman to graduate from SMU School of Law, as well as the first Hispanic woman to practice law in Dallas

Led by the State Bar of Texas Family Law Section chair and alum Louise Raggio ’52 and SMU Law Professor Joseph W. McKnight, the Marital Property Bill is enacted into law, enabling women to conduct certain financial and business transactions without their husbands’ permission.

Joan Tarpley Winn ’68 graduates from SMU School of Law and becomes the first African-American woman to practice law in Dallas County

Beverly Carl becomes the first woman tenured full professor at SMU School of Law

Five SMU Law women law students who were denied summer clerkships in favor of male students with inferior grades filed suit against law firms they had applied to at the time. Chief Judge Barbara Lynn ’76 was one of those five students. Four of the five law firms settled and they soon had women lawyers at their firms.

Joan Tarpley Winn ’68 becomes the first African-American woman to be appointed to a district court

Sharon N. Freytag ’81 becomes the first woman Editor-in-Chief of the SMU Law Review (formerly The Southwestern Law Journal)

Annette Stewart ’66 becomes the first woman appointed to the Dallas Court of Appeals

Harriet E. Miers ’70 becomes the first woman to serve as the Dallas Bar Association President

Barbara Culver ’51 becomes the second woman appointed as a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court

Illona Sheffey Rawlings becomes the first African-American woman to serve on the faculty

Harriet Miers ’70 becomes the first woman to serve as the State Bar of Texas President

Rhonda Hunter ’80 becomes the first person of color to serve as the Dallas Bar Association President

Sarah Saldaña ’84 becomes the first Hispanic woman to serve as a U.S. Attorney in Texas

Mary L. Murphy ’83 becomes the first woman to serve as an administrative regional judge in Texas

Julie Forrester becomes the first woman dean ad interim at SMU Dedman School of Law

Jennifer M. Collins becomes the first woman dean at SMU Dedman School of Law

Jessica Dixon Weaver becomes the first African-American woman to earn tenure

Barbara M.G. Lynn ’76 becomes the first woman appointed as Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Lolita Bucker Inniss becomes the first African-American woman appointed as full professor

Laura Geisler ’97 becomes the first Hispanic woman to serve as Dallas Bar Association President