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By Lucy R. Dollens, Quarles & Brady LLP
To recognize the accomplishments of trailblazing female attorneys in central Indiana, the IndyBar’s Women and the Law Division presents the Antoinette Dakin Leach Award. If you know of a female attorney who has demonstrated the pioneering attributes of Antionette Dakin Leach by blazing a path not taken by others and by encouraging other women in the pursuit of this honorable profession, please take a moment to nominate her.
Visit Antoinette Dakin Leach Award Nomination Form (indybar.org) for the online nomination form. The deadline for nominations is June 26, 2024. The recipient of the award will be honored at a not-to-be-missed event this fall.
About Antoinette Dakin Leach
In 1893, Antoinette Dakin Leach made history as the first woman to challenge a bar admission denial based on gender. Leach’s lawyers argued in front of the Indiana Supreme Court that despite not being allowed to vote, if a woman was otherwise qualified, she could be admitted to practice law in Indiana. Although the court granted Leach a license to practice law, many male lawyers did not agree with the decision, and she was not admitted to membership in the Indiana State Bar Association until 1909.
In addition to serving as a pioneer for women in the practice of law, Leach was also a pioneer in embracing modern technology as the first lawyer to submit typewritten filings to the court instead of writing them by hand. Leach graduated from the University of Tennessee Law School in 1884 and served as a court reporter for the Greene-Sullivan Circuit Court before gaining her Indiana law license.
Previous recipients of the prestigious Antoinette Dakin Leach include:
Jane Henegar; Hon. Doris L. Pryor; Congresswoman Susan Brooks; Hon. Heather A. Welch; Hon. Robyn L. Moberly; Marcia Oddi; Chief Justice Loretta Rush; Sue Shadley; Kerry Hyatt Bennett; Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt; Kathleen Lucas; Hon. Margret Robb; Deborah Hepler; Julia Blackwell Gelinas; Monica Foster; Abby Kuzma; Hon. Denise Larue; Hon. Patricia Gifford; Deborah Daniels; Hon. Betty Barteau; Joan Fullam Irick; Hon. Jane Magnus-Stinson; Ann DeLaney; Kristin G. Fruehwald; Mary Y. Marsh; Francina A. Dlouhy; Hon. Myra C. Selby; Pamela Carter; Shirley A. Shideler; Hon. Sarah Evans Barker; Virginia Dill McCarty; Hon. V. Sue Shields. (Individuals listed in chronological order.)
Lucy R. Dollens is a partner at Quarles & Brady LLP. She concentrates on complex commercial litigation, representing both large and small business clients. Dollens works with clients in the manufacturing, medical devices, higher education, financial services, technology, and real estate industries, among others. Dollens is past chair and current member of the Women and the Law Division’s Executive Committee.
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