Florence E. Allen (1884-1966), nicknamed “first lady of the law,” achieved many firsts for women in the legal profession. After graduating from Western Reserve College for Women, she taught at Laurel School from 1906 to 1909. She then became a crusader for women’s rights and received a law degree from New York University in 1913. In 1919, she was appointed assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, the first woman in the country to hold such a position. In 1920, she was elected to Cleveland’s Court of Common Pleas, and in 1922 advanced to the Ohio Supreme Court, where she served two terms. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her to the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s second highest tribunal, where she became its first female member. In 1958, she became Chief Justice of that body and retired in 1965.