Mary Hall: The Story of Connecticut’s First Woman Attorney

Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.  ~Susan B. Anthony

In July of 1877, Mary Hall began her legal studies.

In October of 1882, Mary Hall became the first woman lawyer in Connecticut.

Historian and New London Attorney, Matthew Berger details how Ms. Hall became a lawyer, In Re Hall – the first judicial decision in the United States permitting a woman to practice law, and Ms. Hall’s legal career in Mary Hall: The Decision and the Lawyer.

Attorney Berger’s article notes that in 1897, Hall received a letter from Susan B. Anthony stating that she had “long known you and watched your course with great interest.”

With only one woman on the Supreme Court, it seems that Ms. Hall’s  cause to “undo things that weren’t right” is still a fight that needs to be fought.

Ryan McKeen is an attorney at McKeen Law, LLC.