This year marks the 150th anniversary of Rhoda Lavinia Goodell’s admission to the Wisconsin bar – the first woman lawyer in Wisconsin. She was admitted to the bar of the Rock County circuit court in 1874, but when she sought admission to the Wisconsin Supreme Court bar, her application was carefully scrutinized. After the court denied her petition in February 1876, she kept trying, carefully crafting her arguments and relying on precedent from other states that had admitted women to their supreme court bars, and finally in 1879, she succeeded. 

In making her case for admission to the bar of the Supreme Court, Assistant Attorney General I.C. Sloan, a leading Janesville lawyer, made it clear that he was presenting an argument prepared by Goodell. 

Attorney Goodell’s perseverance of women in the face of adversity is a reminder that some battles must be tirelessly fought Her victory paved the way for future generations of women to pursue careers in law.