logo
Mendik Matters

    Celebrating Women’s History Month

    Myra Bradwell: Lawyer and Women’s Rights Advocate

    In 1869, Myra Bradwell, who had passed the Illinois bar exam, was denied admission to the bar, on the grounds that a married woman couldn’t enter into contracts because of the common law doctrine of coverture and also because of her gender.  In the Illinois Supreme Court’s view, women weren’t entitled to practice law. Voting 8-1, the United States Supreme Court, 83 U.S. 130, affirmed that decision in 1872.  Undeterred, Bradwell continued advocating for women’s rights and continued to publish the Chicago Legal News, which she had founded in 1868 and which had become the most widely circulated legal newspaper of the time.

     

     

    In 1890, the Illinois Supreme Court reconsidered Bradwell’s 1869 application and granted it nunc pro tunc, retroactively making her the first woman lawyer in Illinois.


    Search

    Subscribe

    Via E-mail:

    Library Links

  • Contact Us
  • Library Home Page
  • Search the Library's Online Catalog
  • Facebook  Find Us on Facebook
  • Recent Posts

    • Love is In the Air at the Mendik Library!
    • Spring Semester Hours 2023
    • Mendik Library Hours from Thursday December 22, 2022 to Monday January 16, 2023
    • Good Luck on Exams!
    • See Something? Say Something.
    • Mendik Library Hours Beginning Wednesday, November 23, 2022
    • Halloween Info Hunt Winners
    • Boo! Halloween Info Hunt Returns
    • Interruption of Access to Some Library Materials
    • First Monday in October

    Categories

  • Bar
  • Blogs
  • CALI
  • Courts
  • Courts, International
  • Current Affairs
  • Electronic Legal Research
  • Events
  • Exams
  • Food and Drink
  • Law
  • Law Practice
  • Law School
  • Legal History
  • Legal News
  • Library Information
  • Mobile App
  • New Acquisitions
  • News
  • One Ls
  • Research
  • Schedule
  • tax
  • Uncategorized
  • Web
  • Web/Tech
  • Welcome
  • Archives

    © 1997-2023 New York Law School | 185 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013 | 212.431.2100 | Policies