Sarah Killgore Wertman

Sarah Killgore Wertman, née Sarah Killgore (1 March 1843, Clinton County, Missouri - 21 May 1935, Seattle) was an American lawyer.[1] She was the first woman law student at the University of Michigan, and admitted to the State Bar of Michigan, making her the first woman to be admitted to the Bar of any state in the United States of America.[2]

Life

Sarah Killgore attended the law school in Chicago, Illinois in 1869. She went on to study law at the University of Michigan, and graduated from the university with an LL.B. in 1871. Later that year was admitted to the Michigan Supreme Court.[3] In 1875 she married Jackson S. Wertman, an attorney, and the pair moved to Indiana and opened a joint practice there. However. Indiana statutes required "Male citizens of good moral character" for admission to the Bar, and so she was forced to restrict herself to office tasks. [2] In 1878 the couple moved to Ashland, Ohio, and in September 1893 Wertman passed the State examination and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Ohio.[3]

Wertman became a member of the Equity Club, the first national organization of women lawyers.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Virginia G. Drachman, Wertman, Sarah Killgore, American National Biography. Copyright American Council of Learned Societies. Published Oxford University Press. Online Feb. 2000.
  2. 1 2 3 Women and the Law: Sarah Killgore Wertman
  3. 1 2 Michigan Bar Journal, Volume 63, No. 6 (June 1984). Reprinted here
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