Gordon, Laura de Force [DeForce]

Biographical Chapter

Laura De Force Gordon: Fragments of a Feminist Pioneer
by Renee F. Hawkins, 1997
Laura De Force Gordon was not only the second woman admitted to the California State Bar. She was also the first woman to argue to a jury in a murder trial in the state, and was also the first woman in the world to publish a daily newspaper.

Laura De Force Gordon As a Spiritualist: Life Lessons from the Great Beyond
by Laura J.C. Davis (2000)

The Legal Career of Laura de Force Gordon
by Sharon Ruiz, 2001

Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon
A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Eds. Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore. Charles Wells Moulton (1893).

Laura de Force Gordon
by Alex Han (2005)

Articles

Barbara Allen Babcock, Women Defenders in the West, 1 University of Nevada Law Journal 1 (Spring 2001).

Barbara Allen Babcock, 150th Anniversary of the Supreme Court, 22 Official California Reports 4th 1275 - 79 (2000).

Book Review: Feminist Lawyers
by Barbara Allen Babcock
50 Stanford Law Review 1689 (1998)

"For His Life: The Trial of Saldee in Judge Ferral's Court" (article regarding prosecution of case by Laura De Force Gordon)
San Francisco Chronicle, August, 1880, p.4, c.1

"A Test Case" (Laura De Force Gordon's Opinion Regarding Discrimination On Account Of Sex)
San Francisco Morning Call, February 19, 1880, p.l, c.7

Women Lawyers in the United States
by Lelia J. Robinson, LL.B.
2 GreenBag 10 (1890)

Making History: Lelia Robinson's Index to American Women Lawyers
["Introduction to Women Lawyers in the United States"]
by Profesor Barbara Allen Babcock
Stanford Law School (July 1998)
PDF format
HTML format

All the Allies of Each: Lelia Robinson's Portrait of Early Women Lawyers in America
by Julia Steele

"Admission of Women to the Bar"
Edited by Catharine V. Waite
Chicago Legal Times, 1887

Book Review: Feminist Lawyers
by Barbara Allen Babcock
50 Stanford Law Review 1689 (1998)

The Founding of the Washington College of Law: The First Law School Established by Women for Women
by Mary L. Clark
This draft was edited and appears in 47 American University Law Review 613 (1998)

The First Women Members of the Supreme Court Bar, 1879 - 1900
by Mary L. Clark
36 San Diego Law Review 87(1999)

Extracts from book "Angels and Amazons: A Hundred Years of American Women" (short extract regarding various early american women lawyers)
by Inez Haynes Irwin
Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY.

"Can Women Practise Law? [State by State Information]"
The Law Student's Helper, Vol. 1, p. 102, 1893

"Women In The Law - Looking Back For Progress" (short article regarding the early women alumni of Boston University School of Law)
by Jennifer R. Wilder
Boston University School of Law Alumni Magazine, vol 5, p4 (Spring 1996)
(Permission to post this document granted by the Trustees of Boston University)

"Admitted to Practice"
Times Mercury San Jose, February 3, 1885

Bibliography

Research Lead

Other

'Bobbed-Haired Portia Takes the Bench': Judge Georgia Bullock and her Campaign for the Los Angeles Superior Court
by Cara Robertson

'Girl' Lawyer Makes Good: The Story of Annette Abbott Adams
by Joey D. Horton