Myra Bradwell, Publisher of Chicago Legal News

Women have come a long way since Myra Bradwell became the first woman lawyer admitted to the Illinois bar.

Born Myra Colby February 12 in Vermont, Bradwell grew up mainly in Illinois. She attended the Elgin Female Seminary and began a teaching career at the age of 24.

She married James Bradwell who was admitted to the Chicago bar and later became a judge and was elected to the State Legislature.

Myra got a taste for the law as an apprentice in her husband's law office. Her work there prompted her to start the Chicago Legal News which published information about court opinions, laws and ordinances. She was a staunch supporter of women's suffrage, employment for women lawyers and improvement of the court systems.

She was instrumental in writing the Illinois Married Women's Property Act of 1861 and the Earnings Act of 1869. Both of these acts gave married women the right to retain their own wages as well as protecting the rights of widows.

In 1869, Bradwell passed the Illinois bar exam, but she was denied admission to the Illinois bar because she was a woman. She took her case to the Supreme Court which upheld the Illinois decision. Justice Bradley of the Supreme Court stated:

"The civil law, as well as nature itself, has always recognized a wide difference in the respective spheres and destinies of man and woman. Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. The constitution of the family organization, which is founded in the divine ordinance, as well as in the nature of things, indicates the domestic sphere as that which properly belongs to the domain and functions of womanhood. The harmony, not to say the identity, of interests and views which belong, or should belong, to the family institution is repugnant to the idea for a woman adopting a distinct and independent career from that of her husband...for these reasons I think that the laws of Illinois now complained of are not obnoxious to the charge of any abridging any [sic] of the privileges and immunities of cities of the United States." [1]

In addition to Bradley's comment, the court system of Illinois was concerned that more women would want to become lawyers and they were afraid of the effect women would have on the administration office. The court system also felt that the brutality of some cases would not be appropriate for women to handle.

Despite these narrow-minded and, now archaic, opinions, the Illinois legislature, in 1872, finally passed a law that allowed any person of any gender to participate in any occupation, profession or employment with the exception of the military.

In the meantime, Bradwell continued publishing the Chicago Legal News, making it one of the most widely-read legal publications in the nation. How ironic that a woman denied the opportunity to practice law would be publisher of such a successful legal document.

She also continued working closely with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to win women the right to vote. In the November 7, 1869 edition of the Chicago Legal News, Bradwell made her philosophy about achieving women's suffrage known:

"You ask us, how shall this great privilege be obtained for women? We will tell you. Not by the class who term man 'a tyrant'-but by the sensible and devoted mothers, wives and daughters of the state unifying together, we mean those who have the respect and love of their fathers, husbands and brothers, and asking them that they give to women the right to vote." [1]

In 1890, of its own volition, the Illinois State Bar admitted Myra Bradwell. In 1892, before the United States Supreme Court, Bradwell received her license to practice law.

Only two years later, never having had the chance to actually practice law, Bradwell died of cancer.

The Myra Bradwell Award was created in her honor. It is presented annually to a female member of the Minnesota Women Lawyers who expresses the highest ideals of the legal profession and who possesses the qualities exemplified by Myra Bradwell such as courage, perseverance, and leadership on issues of concern to women.

The nominee for this award must be an attorney who is a leader in their field and who has exemplified legal excellence, professionalism, and ethics and an attorney who has reached out to assist other women, e.g., by mentoring, by facilitating institutional support, and/or by being a role model.

[1] essortment