Women lawyers’ associations were created to address persistent gender disparities, combat professional isolation, and provide opportunities for career advancement in a profession that, for much of its history, was overwhelmingly male. It may be easy today to take some of that history for granted. For example, in Austin, we practice in a legal community known for its collegiality, professionalism, and respect. Women lawyers are an integral part of that community, serving as advocates, leaders, judges, elected officials, and mentors. In that environment, it is fair to ask: What role will women’s bar organizations play in the future legal landscape? A look at the history of TCWLA informs our answer to that question.
The history of women in the legal profession in Texas is only a bit more 100 years old. It was in 1910 that Hortense Sparks Ward became the first woman admitted to the Texas Bar after passing the state bar examination. Her admission came at a time when women’s participation in the legal profession was far from assured. For years, growth was moderate. Then, the numbers began to change. When gender information became readily available in 1982 through the State Bar of Texas, there were fewer than 5,000 women attorneys in the entire state of Texas. By 2000, that number had grown to more than 18,400 women lawyers, representing approximately 27 percent of the state’s lawyer population. By 2010, women lawyers made up 33 percent of State Bar of Texas membership. According to the State Bar of Texas’s 2025 Population Trends of Women in the State Bar of Texas, women now comprise approximately 40 percent of the State Bar’s membership, compared with 35 percent just 10 years ago.
Against that backdrop, consider Travis County 50 years ago. In 1977, about five years before the reporting became readily available, 33 women lawyers came together with a shared purpose: to challenge gender bias, support one another, and create a stronger place for women in the legal profession in Travis County. Those 33 founding members of the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association joined forces to build something that would last. The desire for such an organization was already present, and so was the support to sustain it. Within three years of its founding, TCWLA’s membership had doubled to more than 60 attorneys. By 1980, TCWLA had established formal bylaws, launched monthly educational speaker luncheons, and created its annual reception honoring Travis County judges—a tradition that continues today. What began with 33 women has grown into an organization of more than 500 members and a board of 25 women lawyers representing different fields of law, backgrounds, practice areas, and perspectives.
Over the past five decades, TCWLA has grown as an organization, expanded its reach, celebrated accomplishments, adapted to a changing profession, and contributed to the growth and betterment of our city. The association took action: In 1981, TCWLA made headlines when it adopted a formal resolution to boycott the Citadel Club, an exclusive venue located inside the historic Driskill Hotel. At the time, the Citadel Club maintained a discriminatory policy that restricted its facilities to men only before 1:30 p.m. The issue came to a head when Anita Hill, then a Texas state representative, attempted to enter the club during the noon hour and was turned away because she was a woman. TCWLA responded by taking a public stand and formally calling for a boycott of the venue. The dispute highlighted the systemic barriers women faced during that era, including limited access to the same professional spaces available to men. The attorney representing the Driskill Hotel pushed back against TCWLA’s resolution, accusing the women’s association of either lacking knowledge of the facts or practicing “McCarthyism.” Decades after this fight for equal access, the relationship between TCWLA and the Driskill Hotel had completely healed. Today, TCWLA hosts its premier event—its annual Judicial Reception—inside the very hotel whose club it once called on its members to boycott.
TCWLA furthered its efforts to change the legal profession. In 1986, TCWLA released a joint press release with the Bexar County Women’s Bar Association regarding a first-of-its-kind survey about current parental leave policies in the Texas legal profession. Responses were elicited from all members of the Texas Bar, something that had not been done before. In 1990, TCWLA voted to testify in front of the State Bar of Texas’s Sunset Commission. After an emergency meeting, the association determined it best to prepare oral and written testimony in support of representation for women at the bar. Then, TCWLA testified before the Sunset Commission, voicing the association’s concerns about the underrepresentation of women and minorities in various rooms and committees and suggesting ways the State Bar could encourage and foster better representation.
As important as what they did is who they created. The organization has been fortunate to be shaped by the leadership of a trailblazing group of women attorneys, including women who would go on to become members of the Texas judiciary. Key figures include Judge Margaret Cooper, who served as TCWLA president in 1983 and co-founded its scholarship fund; Judge Susan (“Sue”) Sheppard, a long-serving family and civil court associate judge in Travis County who spent roughly 25 years on the local bench presiding over sensitive domestic relations, child custody, and protective order cases at the Travis County Courthouse before her retirement; Judge Bea Ann Smith, who served for 16 years as a justice on the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin and was a founding director of Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas; Judge Mary Pearl Williams, a pioneering legal trailblazer and the first woman judge in Travis County, who over a 27-year judicial career broke significant gender barriers in the local court system; and Judge Harriet Murphy, a civil rights pioneer and the first African American woman appointed to a permanent judgeship in Texas, who served on the City of Austin Municipal Court for 20 years.
As TCWLA identified issues that mattered to its members and worked to address them, it also looked forward, recognizing that strengthening the legal profession meant supporting and encouraging the next generation of women lawyers. That commitment has roots reaching back nearly as far as the organization itself. In 1983, under the leadership of Judge Margaret Cooper and founders Amie Rodnick, Iris Jones, and Barbara Marquardt, TCWLA established the TCWLA Scholarship Fund to support local law students. The importance of that investment was captured in an information sheet from the time. The board highlighted how a single $1,000 scholarship awarded to a University of Texas law student in need could mean the difference between a student finishing law school and dropping out. Under President Diane “Dede” Hebner, the board recognized that even one scholarship could have a life-changing effect.
As part of its continuing commitment to the community, the organization formed a dedicated fundraising and grant-making foundation in 2002 to issue grants to local nonprofits. The IRS officially granted the foundation 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in October 2003. Today, the foundation awards approximately $100,000 each year to local nonprofits that serve the needs of women and children in Central Texas. This work is another expression of the legacy that began with 33 women coming together to make Travis County a better place for those who would come after them. The support for this work is self-evident: the Grants and Awards Luncheon is the organization’s best-attended event each year. Fifty years later, the commitment of those original 33 women continues to shape not only TCWLA, but the broader community we serve.
As the association grew, it scrutinized the legacy it had created and honored those who were building it. This commitment to celebrating the accomplishments of women lawyers continues today. This year marks the 27th year that TCWLA has recognized Pathfinders—trailblazers in the legal community who have used their law degrees to inspire others, create new avenues of opportunity, and make a lasting difference. In 2001, six women were recognized as Pathfinders. In some years, four women were honored; in others, three. To date, TCWLA has recognized 92 women as Pathfinders, each representing a different story of leadership, service, and accomplishment. At the Pathfinders Gala and 50th Year Celebration on Nov. 6 at the Renaissance Hotel, TCWLA honored five women who have not only used their law degrees to make a difference in our community, but have also helped grow and shape this organization. In doing so, they join a remarkable legacy of women who have opened doors, created opportunities, and helped build the organization that subsequent generations of women lawyers have inherited.
Here is one more statistic to consider: At present, the highest concentration of women lawyers in the State of Texas is in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metropolitan area. The concentration of women lawyers here is higher than in Houston, higher than in Dallas, and higher than in San Antonio. You can infer what you will from that figure; I believe we have inherited a legal community that is, in no small part, the product of the work of the women who came before us. Fifty years ago, 33 women lawyers came together because they believed they could make their profession and their community better. They built an organization, created opportunities, opened doors, and made room for those who would come after them. Today, we are the women who came after them. We have inherited the space they created, and it is now our turn to decide what we will build in it next.
