Women Lawyers in the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0100 |
By Rhonda P. Chambers
The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame (AWHF) was stablished in 1970. It recognizes women native to or identified closely with Alabama who have made significant contributions on a state, national, or international level. Notable inductees include Helen Keller, Julia Tutwiler, Rosa Parks, Harper Lee, and Coretta Scott King. Of the 98 women in the AWHF, five were lawyers. Remarkably, when most became lawyers, women still could not vote or serve on a jury.1
Maud McLure Kelly2
Maud McLure Kelly's father was a lawyer and served as a state legislator. Kelly "read law" under her father's tutelage while working as a stenographer. In 1907, she took the entrance exam for the University of Alabama's Law Department and scored high enough to gain placement in the senior class. Although the school had opened its doors to women more than a decade earlier, Kelly was only its second female student. She graduated third in her class in 1908.
After graduation, it was uncertain whether Kelly could practice law, as the Code of Alabama stated that anyone who presented "his" diploma could try cases. Fortunately, a law school classmate of Kelly's, who also was a state legislator, rewrote the bar admissions statute so women could present credentials. Over strong opposition, but in time for Kelly's graduation, the bill passed, and Alabama's law was recast to read "his or her diploma."
In 1967, Kelly summarized her life and work for a newspaper article, in which she stated "[t]he only thing of which I am very proud is that I opened the door to the active, actual practice of law ... [in Alabama] to women. All other things I did were minor." Of her law practice, Kelly said, "I thought of the women who would come after me .... I tried to conduct myself so things would be easier for them."
Maud McLure Kelly died in 1973 and was inducted into the AWHF in 1990.
Annie Lola Price3
Annie Lola Price was born in Cullman and attended Athens College. She worked in a law office in Cullman as a secretary, and after "reading the law," passed the Alabama bar exam in 1928. Price practiced law in Cullman and worked as a court reporter from 1935-1947. When Big Jim Folsom was elected governor of Alabama, Price became his assistant legal advisor. Three years later, she became the first woman to serve as legal advisor to an Alabama governor.
In 1951, Governor Folsom appointed Price to the Alabama Court of Appeals at a time when women still could not serve on juries. Opposition over Price's appointment was so great she declined a public investiture ceremony. For the first 15 years of her service, Judge Price reviewed lower court decisions despite being ineligible to serve on the juries making those decisions. She was elected to four consecutive six-year terms and became presiding judge. When the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals was established in 1969, she became its first presiding judge.
Judge Price died June 18, 1972 at age 69. She was inducted in the AWHF in 1976.
Rosa Gerhardt4
Rosa Gerhardt began her career in the legal profession working as an assistant for a prominent Mobile lawyer who encouraged her to go to law school. Gerhardt followed his advice and enrolled at Cumberland School of Law (back when it was still in Tennessee), where she graduated with highest honors in 1930. After passing the Alabama bar exam, she practiced law in Mobile.
In 1945, Gerhardt used her legal skills and became a federal court reporter. That job gradually grew into a full-time position at the expense of her law practice. As the official reporter for the federal court, she sat through countless hours of trial, taking down courtroom testimony word-for-word in shorthand. Soon, young lawyers and even judges sought her for advice. Gerhardt earned the respect and admiration of...
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