Laughlin, Gail
1868 - 1952

Details
Alias: Abbie Hill Laughlin
Born: 5/7/1868 in Robbertson, Maine
Died: 3/13/1952
Professional Facts

Practice Area:
Civil Rights
Will & Estates
Profession:
Women's Rights
Probate Law
Regions and States of Practice:
ME, Northeast
NY, Northeast
CA, West
CO, West
Legal Education:
Cornell University Law School, 1898
Other Education:
B.A., Wellesley College (1894)
Positions During Her Career:
Law practice in New York City (1899-1902)
Expert agent on the United States Industrial Commission (1900)
Serves on the State Board of Pardons in Colorado (1911-1914)
Serves on the Mayor's Advisory Council in Colorado (1912-1914)
Serves on the State Executive Committee for the Progressive Party in Colorado (1912-1914)
Law practice in San Francisco (1914-1924)
Judge in the police courts (1914)
President of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women (NFBPW) (1919-1924)
Founder and director of California branch of the National League for Women's Services (1914-1924)
On the Maine state legislature (1929-1935)
Serves in Maine state senate (1935-1941)
Supreme Court recorder (1941-1945)
Firsts:
Woman Supreme Court recorder (1941)


Further Research Materials

References:
Jean V. Matthews, The Rise of the New Woman: The Women's Movement in America, 1875-1930. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee (2003)
Deborah Rhode, Justice and Gender: Sex Discrimination and the Law. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press (1989)
Julie A. Matthaei, An Economic History of Women in America: Women's Work, the Sexual Division of Labor, and the Development of Capitalism. New York: Schocken Books (1982)
Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green (Editors), Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1980)
Carl N. Degler, At Odds: Women and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present. New York: Oxford Univ. Press (1980)
Fedeartion History, National Business Woman, June 1979
Mary Patricia Ryan, American Society and the Cult of Domesticity (1971) (unpulished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at Santa Barbara) (on file with Green Library, Stanford University)
Laura Miller Derry, Digest of Women Lawyers and Judges. Lousville, Kentucky: Dunne Press (1949)
Gene MacDonald Bowman & Earlene White (Eds.), A History of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., 1919-1944. New York: The Federation (1944)
Helen Havener, The History of the Federation Chapter IV: The Gathering of the Clans, Independent Woman, May 1927
Helen Havener, The History of the Federation Chapter VI: A Constitution is Adopted, Independent Woman, May 1927
Helen Havener, The History of the Federation Chapter VII: At Last We Organize, Independent Woman, May 1927
Our First President, Independent Woman, Feb. 1920
President Laughlin's Trip East, Independent Woman, Feb. 1920
Prominent Woman Lawyer, Atlanta Constitution, August 1, 1920
Three Cheers for Gail Laughlin President Federation of Business and Professional Woman's Clubs, 1 (3) Can Happen 4 (July 18, 1919)
Business Women from Nation Federation, Atlanta Constitution, July 20, 1919
Ex Parte Mana, 178 Cal. 213 (Cal. 1918)
Gail Laughlin, Acceptance Speech at the St. Louis NFBPW Convention (Jul. 17, 1917)
People v. Lensen, 167 P. 406 (Cal. 3rd Dist. Ct. App. 1917)
Place Women on Jury Lists, L.A. Times, Dec. 8, 1917
Mary Brown Sumner Boyd, Must Women Voters Serve on Juries? New York: Nat'l Woman Suffrage Pub. Co. (1915)
First Woman Jury Called in California, Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 29, 1911
Women Attorneys (June 30, 1900)
Women Attorneys, The Woman's Journal, June 30, 1900, at 208
The Tariff at Wellesley, American Economist, Augut 3, 1894, at 49.
McKinney v. State, 30 P. 293 (Wyo. 1892)
People v. Wong Ark, 30 P. 1115 (Cal. 1892)
Harland v. Territory, 13 P. 453 (Wash. 1887)

Links:

Student Papers:
Gail Laughlin
Holwerda, Danielle, 2005
Potential Paper Topics:
Laughlin's research on Domestic Service, which she did for President McKinley's Industrial Commission.
Her 1902-1906 suffrage work in New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Nebraska, Minnesota, Montana, and Nevada.
Experience with the Colorado State Board of Pardons, as she may have been the first woman to hold this post, and organization of the Colorado Progressive Party.
Role in the 1911 vote for women's suffrage in California.
Efforts of Laughlin to present a document to President Coolidge, which was compiled when she led a 200-car motorcade through five states.
Role as a Maine legislator. Reputable contact is Deanna Bonner-Gauter at the Maine State Museum - (207) 287-6605.
Representation of Genevie Welosky, a convicted Boston bootlegger, during whose appeal Laughlin contested the constitutionality of an all-male jury. However, the Supreme Court denied judicial review.