Abigail Williams '24
President of Virginia Law Women
Just over 100 years ago, Elizabeth Tompkins ’23 left the University of Virginia School of Law with her degree and a zeal to begin the practice of law. In 1920, the Law School admitted its first three female students: Elizabeth Tompkins, Rose May Davis, and Catherine Lipop. The Law School’s decision to include women in the ranks of their prestigious class was not made from a desire for equality. Rather, Dean William Minor Lile was responding to pressure from women’s rights activists, namely Mary-Cooke Branch Munford. While Dean Lile appealed to the “chivalry” of the men in the Law School, his comments and the attitude of Tompkins’ male classmates made it clear that women were not seen as equals in the legal field.
During her time here, Tompkins wrote home to her father (who encouraged her pursuit of the law) detailing all the ways she was shut out of the collegiality that UVA prides itself on. In 1921, she wrote “[The men] are beginning to know that I am not after them, and that they have nothing I want.” Despite graduating near the top of her class in 1923 and earning a perfect score on the bar exam, she was underestimated by her peers. Dean Lile predicted it would “not be long before she deserts the profession of the law and takes up that of wife & mother.” Tompkins went on to prove him, and any others sharing that sentiment, wrong.
She was the first woman admitted to the Virginia State Bar, and she clerked for then judge and fellow UVA Law graduate R.T.W. Duke, Jr.[1] After she graduated, Dean Lile changed his tune. In 1924 he noted that “[Tompkins’] powers of acquisition and of appreciation of legal principles were fully equal to those of the men in the front rank of the graduation class” and suggested she pursue her legal career in Richmond. With that advice, she moved away from Charlottesville and began practicing with other UVA Law alumni in Richmond. She later served as a commissioner in chancery for the Richmond circuit court. Drawing on her experience at UVA Law, she became a leader at the University of Richmond and sat on the Board of Trustees. In 1969, she was dubbed “the dean” of women lawyers in private practice by the Virginia State Bar. The next year, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Richmond for her exceptional work.
We cannot reflect on the last 100 years of the University of Virginia without thinking about Elizabeth Tompkins’ experience. The legal field and university have come a long way since her admission in 1920, at a time when women had to be white, at least 22 years old, and have two years of education before being admitted to the Law School. As Dean Lile noted in June 1921 to a group of alumni, women’s “insistence and persistence – their crying aloud night and day without surcease” begot more inclusive changes to the legal profession. Every person graduating from UVA Law has some of that insistence and persistence; it is inculcated into our hearts and minds through our professors, fellow classmates, and the world at large. In a 1936 article about women in the legal profession, Tompkins described the profession as taking “hard, exacting work and long hours.” By persisting through that hard work, applying what we learn during our time at this institution, and reflecting on the incredible life of people like Tompkins, we can all become better lawyers and make our communities better places.
[1] https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/from-recollections-by-r-t-w-duke-jr-1899/.