Robinson, Lelia Josephine, 1850-1891

Lelia Josephine Robinson, lawyer and author, was born in Boston on July 25, 1850, educated in the Boston public schools, and graduated from Boston University Law School in June 1881. After an unsuccessful application to the Massachusetts bar to practice law, Robinson opened an independent practice on the basis of her law school diploma. She appeared before the state legislature in support of a law to admit women to the bar on the same terms as men. The law was passed in 1882 and she received a license to practice as a member of the Suffolk County bar. In 1884, Robinson moved to Seattle, Wash., and practiced law there for several years before returning to Boston. Robinson was a member of the Equity Club (EC), an organization founded in the late 1880s by students at the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, to facilitate communication among women law students and women lawyers. Robinson wrote at least three books: Law Made Easy, Law of Husband and Wife, and Wills and Inheritances. She married Eli Sawtelle in 1890 and died in 1891.

First woman to practice law in Massachusetts and Washington Territory. Born Boston, Mass. July 25, 1850; died Aug. 10, 1891. Graduated Boston University School of Law 1881. Admitted to the Massachusetts bar June 1882. Practiced law in Boston 1882-1884, 1887-1890; in Seattle, Washington 1884-1886. Member of Portia Club, The Equity Club, Second Nationalist Club in Boston, and Women's International Bar Association.