Rosalind Goodrich Bates

Rosalind Goodrich Bates (July 29, 1894 – November 14, 1961) was an American lawyer and clubwoman, based in Los Angeles, California. She was a trial attorney who practiced international law and served as a Judge Pro Tem (temporary position as a judge) in the Los Angeles Superior Court.[1] She was a founder and president of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).

Rosalind Goodrich Bates
A young woman with fair skin and dark hair, seated at a table, holding papers, in front of a wall of bookshelves containing legal volumes
Rosalind Goodrich Bates, about 1931, from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA
Born
Rosalind Anita Goodrich Boido

July 29, 1894
Sonsonate, El Salvador
DiedNovember 14, 1961 (aged 67)
Los Angeles, California
Other namesRosalind Boido, Rosalind Blades
OccupationLawyer
SpouseErnest Sutherland Bates

Early life and education

Rosalind Anita Goodrich Boido was born in 1894, in Sonsonate, El Salvador,[2] the daughter of Norberto Lorenzo Boido Basozabal and Rosa Meador Goodrich Boido. Her father was born in Mexico and her mother was from Texas.[3] Both parents were physicians; her mother was also active as a suffragist and temperance worker in Arizona.[4][5] Rosalind Goodrich attended the University of Arizona,[6] and graduated from the University of Oregon, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1917[7] and a master's degree in 1918. She earned a law degree from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and passed the California bar in 1926, and was one of the first Latina lawyers in the United States.[4][8]

Career

After early work as an editor and actress in New York,[4][9] Bates was a trial lawyer in Los Angeles.[10] She was president of the California Business Women's Council, and also of the Los Angeles Business Women's Council, and active in the Los Angeles Women's Club.[11] She was vice-president of the Los Angeles Lawyers Club and headed the international department of the Women's University Club.[12]

She was a member of the California and Mexican Bar Associations.[13]

"Every woman lawyer who actually earns her living in the practice of law is an exceptional woman," she declared in 1932. "To survive the hard grind of study, and the worst grind of private practice or the demands of public office, requires good health, good brains, and most important, good luck."[14]

FIDA

Bates was an officer of the National Association of Women Lawyers,[15][16] and organized the group's national gatherings in Los Angeles in 1935 and 1939.[17][18] In 1944 she was a founder of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). As FIDA's founder, she was the United States representative to the 1944 convening meeting in Mexico City.[19][1] She was later elected the president of FIDA in 1949.[20][21]

Editor
Women Lawyers Journal. Bates was the editor of the journal. (1931; 1935-1936)

She served as the editor (1931; 1935-1936) and wrote essays for the Women Lawyers Journal.[22][23] For the Fall 1957 issue of the Women Lawyers Journal that chronicled the association's "New York-London Convention", Bates even assisted then-editor Eva M. Mack (who worked as an attorney for Hugh Ellwood Macbeth Sr.) to preserve the historical event.[24] She was also editor for La Abogada (The Female Lawyer) and Lawyers' Club Docket.[1]

Role in Government

In 1952, she testified before the President's Commission on Naturalization and Immigration, on the subject of adoption, immigration, and citizenship procedures for Japanese-American "war babies".[25] She ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education in 1953.[26][27]

Association Offices Held

She was the first woman to serve on the board of directors of the Southwestern Alumni Association.[8] Along with having been president of FIDA, she also served as president of the California Business Women's Council and the Los Angeles Business Women's Council. As a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), she was on the Executive Board as the delegate from California, and was chair of the organization's annual convention.[1]

Authorship

Loyalty and the Woman Lawyer. (1931-1932)[28]

An article that was written during the Great Depression and asks the question on the rank of women attorneys during that period of economic crisis.

History of Western Women Lawyers. (1931-1932)

History of U.S. women lawyers in states west of the Mississippi River, with the exception of Louisiana.[29]

How Mexico is Meeting Rehabilitation Problem - Penal Institutions Praised - Courts Efficient. (1935-1936)[30]

Comparative Legal Rights of Women in the Americas. (1948)

Delivered the 1947 Inter-American Bar Association Meeting in Lima, Peru as President of the International Association of Women Lawyers.[31]

Forum on Divorce Problems from the 36th Annual Convention (1935-1936)

An article co-authored by Bates while she was with both the California and Mexican Bar Associations.[13]

Personal life

Rosalind Goodrich married writer and editor Ernest Sutherland Bates in 1913. They had two sons, Roland and Vernon,[32] before they divorced in 1919.[33] She married her college drama co-star,[34] blind writer Leslie Burton Blades, in 1919; they divorced in 1923.[4][35] Her son Roland, her law partner, died in 1958,[36][37] and her mother died in 1959.[5]

Death

Rosalind Goodrich Bates died in 1961, aged 67 years, shot to death at her home in Silver Lake.[38][39][40] One suspect was a man involved in a custody battle with one of Bates' clients;[41] he was arrested but later cleared.[42] Her murder remains unsolved.[4]

References
  1. "Rosalind Goodrich Bates '26 | Southwestern Law School". www.swlaw.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  2. "Well Known Woman Attorney Murdered". The Times. 1961-11-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Portrait and Biographical Record of Arizona: Commemorating the Achievements of Citizens who Have Contributed to the Progress of Arizona and the Development of Its Resources. Chapman Publishing Company. 1901. p. 225.
  4. Jordan, Gwen (2020-02-07). "Symposium: 19th Amendment at 100: "We Must Forget Every Difference and Unite in a Common Cause - Votes For Women": Lessons From the Woman Suffrage Movement (Or, Before the Notorious RBG, There Were the Notorious RGBs)". ConLawNOW. 11 (1): quote on page 95. ISSN 2380-4688.
  5. "Dr. Rosa Meador Goodrich Boido". Women's Plaza of Honor, The University of Arizona. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  6. University of Arizona (1911). Annual Catalogue, with Announcements. The University. p. 104.
  7. "One Half of State University's Class of A.B.'s Women". The Oregon Daily Journal. 1917-06-04. p. 14. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Rosalind Goodrich Bates '26". Southwestern Law School. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  9. "Santa Rosa Girl to Go on Stage". Petaluma Daily Morning Courier. 1911-08-23. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Bar Association Endorses Plan to Appoint L. A. Judges". Santa Rosa Republican. 1934-05-26. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Gift Exchange Planned". Daily News. 1938-12-01. p. 24. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Price, Gertrude (1949-10-11). "Japanese women turn eyes west says American who lives in Orient". Daily News. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Forum on Divorce Problems from the 36th Annual Convention". Women Lawyers' Journal. 22: 6. 1935–1936.
  14. "In Re Lady Lawyers: A Judicial Legacy". Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  15. "Woman Lawyer Slated as Speaker for Club". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. 1936-05-16. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-01-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Women Lawyers Halt Hub Man's Blast at Roosevelt". The Boston Globe. 1936-08-25. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Portias of United States to Meet in Los Angeles During July". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. 1935-05-11. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. Wilson, Bess M. (1939-07-06). "Women Lawyers Open Convention Tomorrow". The Los Angeles Times. p. 27. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "History – FIDA". Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  20. Mason, Nadine (1958-08-18). "Law Parleys: Hectic but Fun". The Los Angeles Times. p. 29. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "Notables from Afar Here for Law Parley". The Los Angeles Times. 1949-05-11. p. 34. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. "Not Exactly Vacation". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. 1935-07-12. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. Endres, Kathleen L.; Lueck, Therese (1996-11-25). Women's Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-313-28632-2.
  24. Lawyers, National Association of Women (1975). 75 Year History of National Association of Women Lawyers, 1899-1974: (the First Seventy-five Years). the Association.
  25. United States President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization (1952). Hearings. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 1215–1217.
  26. "C. Barnes for School Board". California Eagle. 1953-04-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. "School board losers give notice of continued fight". Daily News. 1953-04-08. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. Bates, Rosalind Goodrich (1931–1932). "Loyalty and the Woman Lawyer". Women Lawyers' Journal. 19: 29.
  29. Bates, Rosalind Goodrich (1931–1932). "History of Western Women Lawyers". Women Lawyers' Journal. 19: 20.
  30. Bates, Rosalind Goodrich (1935–1936). "How Mexico is Meeting Rehabilitation Problem - Penal Institutions Praised - Courts Efficient". Dicta. 13: 115.
  31. Bates, Rosalind Goodrich (1948). "Comparative Political Rights of Women in the Americas". Women Lawyers Journal. 34: 11.
  32. "Oregon Professor Enters His Denial". Statesman Journal. 1924-09-25. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. "Los Angeles Woman Lawyer Found Dead". The News-Review. 1961-11-15. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. "College Bill Friday Night". The World. 1917-04-12. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. "Writer Listened to Spirits, Says Wife". Los Angeles Evening Express. 1923-08-09. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. "Threat to Slain Lawyer Told; Killer May have Phoned Dead Woman, Says Riverside Judge". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1961-11-16. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. "Attorney Roland Bates, DHS Civic Leader, Succumbs". The Desert Sun. 1958-05-31. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. "L.A. Woman Lawyer Murdered in Mystery". The Los Angeles Times. 1961-11-15. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. "Desert Officers Join Search in Mrs. Bates Case". Desert Sun. November 16, 1961. p. 2. Retrieved January 30, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  40. "Calif. Woman Lawyer Slain". Lancaster New Era. 1961-11-15. p. 38. Retrieved 2022-01-30 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. "Custody Suit Litigant Sought in Bates Death". The Los Angeles Times. 1961-11-16. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. "Police Clear Technician in Slaying of Attorney". The Los Angeles Times. 1961-11-19. p. 38. Retrieved 2022-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.