Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz

Abstract

Woman Lawyer tells the story of Clara Foltz, who in 1878 became the first female lawyer in California. Today her legacy is memorialized in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. The courthouse recognizes Foltz’s efforts to establish the office of the public defender. Barbara Babcock is eager to tell Foltz’s story, and the details come tumbling out. Babcock is a leader among legal historians of women. Her Women’s Legal History Biography Project at Stanford Law School produces publicly available biographies of early women lawyers. Babcock is at her best in Woman Lawyer when she integrates these biographical stories to contextualize Foltz’s experience. Babcock briefly introduces many of these famous first women, giving just enough information to whet the appetite. Babcock’s focus is the personal story of Clara Foltz. The first four chapters of the book present the details of Foltz’s life in rough chronological order. Foltz married early at the age of fifteen but was soon abandoned by her ne’er-do-well husband. As a single mother with five children to raise, she came to law as a way to support her family. The book recounts Foltz’s challenges to the entrenched male legal establishment, including her denial of valuable apprenticeships, exclusion from moot court clubs, and the lawsuit she filed to gain admission to the new Hastings College of Law. Her experiences are intertwined with glimpses into the history of California, from its constitutional convention driven by anti-Chinese sentiment to the economic boom times and depressions caused by gold, real estate, and the great fire.