Arabella Mansfield (1846-1911), was America’s First Female Attorney (read more about Arabella Mansfield here). In celebration of Women’s History Month, Vernis & Bowling recognizes our 41 female attorneys including our female Managing Attorneys and Department Heads.
Vernis & Bowling’s Female Managing Attorneys and Department Heads
About Arabella Mansfield
Arabella Mansfield (1846 – 1911), was born Belle Aurelia Babb on a family farm in Des Moines, Iowa. With so many men absent fighting in the Civil War, to keep their educational institutions running, schools began admitting more women as students and teachers.
Mansfield graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College as valedictorian in 1866. She took a teaching position at Simpson College, making her one of America’s first female college professors. While at Simpson, Arabella studied law in her brother’s practice, and although the Iowa bar exam was limited to “white male persons,” she passed the exam with high marks in 1869.
A court ruled, “the affirmative declaration that male persons may be admitted, is not an implied denial to the right of females.” Judge Francis Springer officially certified Arabella at the Henry County Courthouse, making her the first licensed female attorney in the U.S. Shortly afterwards, Iowa changed its statute and became the first state to allow women to practice law.
Arabella never pursued legal practice. Instead she spent her professional life teaching and was active in the women’s suffrage movement, where she worked with Susan B. Anthony. Later she would become one of the first U.S. female college administrators at DePauw University.
Arabella Mansfield died at age 65, nine years before women obtained the right to vote. She was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 1980. The Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys established the Arabella Mansfield Award in 2002 to recognize outstanding women lawyers in Iowa.
Learn more about Diversity and Inclusion at Vernis & Bowling.
Diversity and Inclusion