Lavinia Goodell
Encyclopedia
Rhoda Lavinia Goodell was the first woman licensed to practice law in Wisconsin.
Goodell was the daughter of prominent abolitionist William Goodell
. She worked at her father's newspaper, The Principia, and at Harper's Magazine before moving to Janesville, Wisconsin in 1871. She studied law on her own and was admitted to the Rock County, Wisconsin
bar in 1874. After her petition for admission to the bar of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin was denied in 1876, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
John B. Cassoday
sponsored a bill expressly authorizing women to be admitted to the state bar. The bill passed in 1877, and Goodell was admitted to practice before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1877.
In 1880, Goodell argued and won her first case in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, shortly before she died of cancer.
Goodell was the daughter of prominent abolitionist William Goodell
William Goodell
William Goodell was an abolitionist and reformer born in Coventry, New York on October 3, 1792. Goodell spent several years of his early childhood confined to his room due to illness. It was during this confinement that he first discovered an appreciation for religion and writing...
. She worked at her father's newspaper, The Principia, and at Harper's Magazine before moving to Janesville, Wisconsin in 1871. She studied law on her own and was admitted to the Rock County, Wisconsin
Rock County, Wisconsin
-Unincorporated communities:-Further reading:* . Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879.* Brown, William F. , Chicago: Cooper, 1908.* Brown, William F. , Chicago: Cooper, 1908....
bar in 1874. After her petition for admission to the bar of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin was denied in 1876, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin....
John B. Cassoday
John B. Cassoday
John B. Cassoday was a Wisconsin politician and jurist.Born in Herkimer County, New York, Cassoday graduated from the Albany Law School and moved to Janesville, Wisconsin where he practiced law. In 1865 and in 1877, he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly; he served as speaker in the 1877...
sponsored a bill expressly authorizing women to be admitted to the state bar. The bill passed in 1877, and Goodell was admitted to practice before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1877.
In 1880, Goodell argued and won her first case in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, shortly before she died of cancer.
Further reading
- Cleary, Catherine B. "Lavinia Goodell, First Woman Lawyer in Wisconsin", Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 74, no. 4 (Summer 1991), pp. 242–271.
- Schier, Mary Lahr. Strong-Minded Woman: The Story of Lavinia Goodell, Wisconsin's First Female Lawyer. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-9671787-3-8
External links
- Profile, Wisconsin Historical Society
- Rhoda Livinia Goodell, 1839 - 1880 at Dictionary of Wisconsin History
- Profile, Wisconsin State Bar
- Teresa M. Derichsweiler, "The Life of Lavinia Goodell: Wisconsin's First Woman Lawyer", Stanford Women's Legal History Project, spring 1997