First African-American woman appointed to Richmond Law’s full-time faculty
2000
Okianer Christian Dark received the University of Richmond’s Distinguished Educator Award in 1990 and 1993 and the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Virginia Women Attorneys Association Foundation in 1991.
2011 2010 2008
1993 Still work to do
1992 1984
1989
1985
First woman serves as U.S. Attorney General
First woman represents Virginia in the U.S. Congress Leslie Byrne represented the newlycreated 11th Congressional District. Virginia has elected two other women to the House of Representatives, Thelma Drake and Jo Ann Davis, and none to the Senate.
First woman sits on the Supreme Court of Virginia Elizabeth B. Lacy served two 12-year terms on the court and retired to senior status in 2007. She has also served on Richmond Law’s faculty.
A survey on the retention and promotion of women in the nation’s 200 largest law firms reveals that women are underrepresented in the leadership ranks.
Janet Reno became the nation’s second-longestserving attorney general.
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112 Fourth woman appointed to the nation’s highest court
Justice Elena Kagan joined Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor on the nation’s highest court. She was Harvard Law’s first female dean, the nation’s first female solicitor general, and the nation’s 112th Supreme Court Justice.
Gains in legal education Women comprise at least a third of the first-year students at Virginia’s five law schools.
First woman elected attorney general of Virginia Mary Sue Terry, W’69 and H’86, was the first, and so far the only, woman elected to statewide office in Virginia. She also taught at Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies and served on the University’s Board of Trustees.
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New leadership roles in Virginia Richmond Law appointed Wendy Perdue dean; she became the first woman to be dean of a Virginia law school. Cynthia Kinser First became the first woman to serve as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Cleo Powell became the first African-American woman to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia.