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Rosalind Goodrich Bates

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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
Bates in c. 1931
Born
Rosalind Anita Goodrich Boido

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

Early life and education

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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] Certain sources identify Bates as the first licensed Latina lawyer in California.[9] Despite her heritage, though, Bates did not self-identify as Mexican American or Latina during her lifetime.[10]

Career

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After early work as an editor and actress in New York,[4][11] Bates was a trial lawyer in Los Angeles.[12] 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.[13] She was vice-president of the Los Angeles Lawyers Club and headed the international department of the Women's University Club.[14]

She was a member of the California and Mexican Bar Associations.[15]

"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."[16]

FIDA

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Bates was an officer of the National Association of Women Lawyers,[17][18] and organized the group's national gatherings in Los Angeles in 1935 and 1939.[19][20] 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.[21][1] She was later elected the president of FIDA in 1949.[22][23]

Editor

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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.[24][25] 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.[26] She was also editor for La Abogada (The Female Lawyer) and Lawyers' Club Docket.[1]

Role in government

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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".[27] She ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education in 1953.[28][29]

Association offices held

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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]

Publications

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  • Loyalty and the Woman Lawyer. (1931-1932)[30]
  • History of Western Women Lawyers. (1931-1932)
  • How Mexico is Meeting Rehabilitation Problem - Penal Institutions Praised - Courts Efficient. (1935-1936)[31]
  • Comparative Legal Rights of Women in the Americas. (1948)
  • Forum on Divorce Problems from the 36th Annual Convention (1935-1936)

Personal life

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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

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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

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  1. ^ a b c d "Rosalind Goodrich Bates '26 | Southwestern Law School". www.swlaw.edu. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  2. ^ "Well Known Woman Attorney Murdered". The Times. November 15, 1961. p. 3. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – 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. ^ a b c d e Jordan, Gwen (February 7, 2020). "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. ^ a b "Dr. Rosa Meador Goodrich Boido". Women's Plaza of Honor, The University of Arizona. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  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. June 4, 1917. p. 14. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b "Rosalind Goodrich Bates '26". Southwestern Law School. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  9. ^ Jordan, Gwen (2020). "SYMPOSIUM: THE 19TH AMENDMENT AT 100: FROM THE VOTE TO GENDER EQUALITY - "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 RGBS2)". Conlawnow. 11 (9).
  10. ^ Atencio, Dolores S. (2023). "LUMINARIAS: AN EMPIRICAL PORTRAIT OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF LATINA LAWYERS 1880–1980" (PDF). Chicanx-Latinx Law Review. 39 (1).
  11. ^ "Santa Rosa Girl to Go on Stage". Petaluma Daily Morning Courier. August 23, 1911. p. 6. Retrieved February 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Bar Association Endorses Plan to Appoint L. A. Judges". Santa Rosa Republican. May 26, 1934. p. 8. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Gift Exchange Planned". Daily News. December 1, 1938. p. 24. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Price, Gertrude (October 11, 1949). "Japanese women turn eyes west says American who lives in Orient". Daily News. p. 18. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Forum on Divorce Problems from the 36th Annual Convention". Women Lawyers' Journal. 22: 6. 1935–1936.
  16. ^ "In Re Lady Lawyers: A Judicial Legacy". Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  17. ^ "Woman Lawyer Slated as Speaker for Club". Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. May 16, 1936. p. 13. Retrieved January 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Women Lawyers Halt Hub Man's Blast at Roosevelt". The Boston Globe. August 25, 1936. p. 1. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Portias of United States to Meet in Los Angeles During July". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. May 11, 1935. p. 10. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Wilson, Bess M. (July 6, 1939). "Women Lawyers Open Convention Tomorrow". The Los Angeles Times. p. 27. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "History – FIDA". Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  22. ^ Mason, Nadine (August 18, 1958). "Law Parleys: Hectic but Fun". The Los Angeles Times. p. 29. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Notables from Afar Here for Law Parley". The Los Angeles Times. May 11, 1949. p. 34. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Not Exactly Vacation". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. July 12, 1935. p. 15. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Endres, Kathleen L.; Lueck, Therese (November 25, 1996). Women's Periodicals in the United States: Social and Political Issues. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-313-28632-2.
  26. ^ Lawyers, National Association of Women (1975). 75 Year History of National Association of Women Lawyers, 1899-1974: (the First Seventy-five Years). the Association.
  27. ^ United States President's Commission on Immigration and Naturalization (1952). Hearings. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 1215–1217.
  28. ^ "C. Barnes for School Board". California Eagle. April 2, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved January 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "School board losers give notice of continued fight". Daily News. April 8, 1953. p. 3. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ Bates, Rosalind Goodrich (1931–1932). "Loyalty and the Woman Lawyer". Women Lawyers' Journal. 19: 29.
  31. ^ Bates, Rosalind Goodrich (1935–1936). "How Mexico is Meeting Rehabilitation Problem - Penal Institutions Praised - Courts Efficient". Dicta. 13: 115.
  32. ^ "Oregon Professor Enters His Denial". Statesman Journal. September 25, 1924. p. 1. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ "Los Angeles Woman Lawyer Found Dead". The News-Review. November 15, 1961. p. 2. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ^ "College Bill Friday Night". The World. April 12, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. ^ "Writer Listened to Spirits, Says Wife". Los Angeles Evening Express. August 9, 1923. p. 4. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ "Threat to Slain Lawyer Told; Killer May have Phoned Dead Woman, Says Riverside Judge". The San Bernardino County Sun. November 16, 1961. p. 4. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ "Attorney Roland Bates, DHS Civic Leader, Succumbs". The Desert Sun. May 31, 1958. p. 2. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ "L.A. Woman Lawyer Murdered in Mystery". The Los Angeles Times. November 15, 1961. p. 2. Retrieved January 30, 2022 – 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. November 15, 1961. p. 38. Retrieved January 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ "Custody Suit Litigant Sought in Bates Death". The Los Angeles Times. November 16, 1961. p. 2. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ^ "Police Clear Technician in Slaying of Attorney". The Los Angeles Times. November 19, 1961. p. 38. Retrieved January 31, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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