The Women Trailblazers in the Law Project (WTP) prepares the oral histories of women pioneers in the legal profession nationwide. Although there are existing oral histories of some women lawyers and judges in repositories scattered across the country, the Women Trailblazers Project is the only comprehensive nationwide program devoted specifically and exclusively to capturing, recording, and preserving the histories of pioneering women lawyers in their own voices.

We have lived to witness history in the making and have had the privilege of knowing many of the pioneering women in the legal profession who have contributed greatly to the dramatic advances of women in the law, in the profession, and in our society. But with each new day, we risk losing yet another of these pioneers without memorializing her story in her own voice for future generations. Given the relentless march of time, there is a unique urgency to the Women Trailblazers Project: It is truly a “now or never” proposition.

Specially trained lawyer volunteers record the histories of leading women practitioners, public interest lawyers, judges, and legal academicians. Each individual history commissioned by the Project involves (1) pre-interview research on the woman to be interviewed, (2) a series of audiotaped interviews, (3) the transcription of the audiotaped interviews, and, as possible, (4) a short videotaped interview.

The Women Trailblazers in the Law Project was designed with the universe of potential end uses for the oral histories in mind. Researchers, scholars, and historians will be able to draw on the histories when they are researching or writing about an individual interviewee or a particular group of women. Educators may use the histories in the preparation of curriculum modules. In addition, the histories may be used as background information for the making of documentary films. Bar associations across the country also may use the histories to develop books, videos, or films.

The WTP is managed by Project Director Linda Ferren, whose extensive expertise in the field includes serving as Executive Director of the Historical Society of the D. C. Circuit where, among other things, she developed and has directed an oral history project.

The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession in 2004 initiated the Women Trailblazers Project. The ABA Senior Lawyers Division, in cooperation with the ABA Commission on Women beginning in 2008, sponsors the project.

The oral histories of the following women taken by the WTP can be accessed in their entirety: