Marshall, Margaret Hilary

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

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On October 13, 1999, Margaret Hilary Marshall became the first woman chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Marshall was born in 1944 in Newcastle, Natal, South Africa. Her mother, Hilary A.D. Marshall, was born in Richmond, England. Her late father, Bernard Charles Marshall, was a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, and was a chemist and production manager at the African Metals Corporation. She is married to New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis and has three stepchildren.

In 1966, Marshall received a bachelor of arts degree from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. At Witwatersrand, Marshall majored in English and art history. From 1966 to 1968, she was president of the National Union of South African Students, leading her fellow classmates in protests against apartheid. The National Union of South African Students was the only multiracial national group in the country at the time.

Marshall immigrated to the United States in 1968 in order to pursue an education at the graduate level. She studied at Harvard University, where she was awarded a graduate scholarship by the Ernest Oppenheimer Trust. The following year, she received her master's degree in education from Harvard. After doing so, Marshall decided on a law career. She studied at Yale Law School from 1973 until 1975. Although she completed her last year of law school at Harvard, Yale awarded her a Juris Doctor degree in 1976.

Marshall began her career as a lawyer in private practice, working as both an associate and a member in the Boston law firm of Csaplar & Bok from 1976 through 1989. In 1978, she became naturalized as a U.S. citizen. She then continued the private PRACTICE OF LAW in Boston as a partner at the prominent law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart from 1989 through 1992. During these years, Marshall's practice consisted primarily of civil litigation. She earned a reputation as an expert in the area of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, which includes patent, COPYRIGHT,

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and TRADEMARK LAWS that protect inventions, designs, artistic and literary products, and commercial symbols.

While pursuing her career in private practice, Marshall continued in the fight against apartheid in her native county. She urged the United States to impose sanctions against South Africa due to its racial SEGREGATION. At that time, advocating sanctions against South Africa was a treasonable offense in her native country. Consequently...