Women Lawyers

Amal Clooney is a Lebanese-British barrister, specializing in human rights and international law. Her clients include popular and influential personalities like Yulia Tymoshenko, Nadia Murad, and Julian Assange. Her work and philanthropic activities gained media coverage after her wedding to actor George Clooney. The Clooneys are well-known philanthropists and are founders of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

Marcia Clark is best known as the lead prosecutor of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. She has also written several books, including novels from the Rachel Knight series and the Samantha Brinkman series and a non-fiction about the Simpson case. She has also written crime articles for The Daily Beast.

A pioneering female lawyer, Gloria Allred is known for fighting cases involving violation of women’s rights and has turned into an icon for women and people from minority communities. A civil rights advocate, too, she has also been a TV and radio commentator and host.

Apart from being the wife of former UK prime minister Tony Blair, Cherie Blair is also a successful attorney in her own right. The daughter of actor Tony Booth, she is has also taught at the University of Westminster. She is associated with charitable campaigns on breast cancer and other causes, too.

Known for her legal expertise and her resolve to fight corruption, Miriam Defensor Santiago also became the first Filipina and the first from an Asian developing country to serve as a judge of the International Criminal Court. The senator was also a Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient and died of lung cancer.

Bernice King is an American minister best known as the daughter of the popular activist and leader Martin Luther King Jr. Over the years, Barnice King has supported many noble causes for which she has been honored with several awards. In 2009, she was honored at the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Convention for her service to women.

Anna Soubry is a British journalist, barrister, and former politician. A vocal critic of Brexit, Soubry left the Conservative Party in February 2019 in order to join the Independent Group for Change (Change UK). Subsequently, Anna Soubry was appointed as the party's leader before the disbandment of Change UK following the party's failure at the December 2019 general election.

Julie Bishop is an Australian former politician who once served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. For several years, she was the deputy leader of the Liberal Party. She studied law at the University of Adelaide and worked as a commercial lawyer before venturing into politics. In 2020, she became the first woman chancellor of the Australian National University.  

Janet Reno was an American lawyer. From 1993 to 2001, Reno served as the United States attorney general (AG) after she was nominated by President Bill Clinton. Not only was she the first woman to serve as the US attorney general, but Janet Reno was also the second-longest serving AG in the history of the United States.

American attorney and author Phyllis Schlafly was a major figure of paleoconservativism and was against feminism, LGBT rights, and abortion. She was also behind the STOP ERA campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment, and her life and times were portrayed in the series Mrs. America, which had Cate Blanchett playing her.

Italian lawyer Virginia Raggi made history when she became the first female mayor of Rome. A champion of women’s rights, she also prioritizes climate change issues and is concerned about de-congesting her city. A Five Star Movement member, she withdrew Rome’s 2024 Olympic bid, stating Rome would’ve been in debt otherwise.

Virginia Thomas is an American conservative activist and attorney. She is credited with founding a non-profit conservative political advocacy group called Liberty Central, which ceased operations in 2012. Over the years, she has worked for influential agencies, such as the United States Department of Labor.

Born to Japanese immigrants in Hawaii, lawyer and Democratic Party member Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first Asian-American woman and the second Hawaiian woman to be part of the U.S. Congress. She has fought for women’s and civil rights and has opposed the American participation in the Vietnam War.