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Rosalind Goodrich Bates (July 29, 1894 – November 14, 1961) was an American lawyer and
clubwoman The club movement is an American women's social movement that started in the mid-19th century and spread throughout the United States. It established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While wome ...
, 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. She was a founder and president of the
International Federation of Women Lawyers The International Federation of Women Lawyers (IFWL), in Spanish (FIDA), is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) that enhances the status of women and children by providing legal aid, legal literacy and education programs, and th ...
(FIDA).


Early life and education

Rosalind Anita Goodrich Boido was born in 1894, in
Sonsonate, El Salvador Sonsonate () is a city and district of El Salvador, of which it is also its municipal seat. It has an estimated population of 71,980 inhabitants for the year 2020. Sonsonate is the second most important city in western El Salvador. The town was ...
, the daughter of Norberto Lorenzo Boido Basozabal and Rosa Meador Goodrich Boido. Her father was born in Mexico and her mother was from Texas. Both parents were physicians; her mother was also active as a suffragist and temperance worker in Arizona. Rosalind Goodrich attended the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
, and graduated from the
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1917 and a master's degree in 1918. She earned a law degree from
Southwestern Law School Southwestern Law School is a Private university, private Law school in the United States, law school in Los Angeles, California. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks ...
in Los Angeles and passed the California bar in 1926, and was one of the first Latina lawyers in the United States. Certain sources identify Bates as the first licensed Latina lawyer in California. Despite her heritage, though, Bates did not self-identify as Mexican American or Latina during her lifetime.


Career

After early work as an editor and actress in New York, Bates was a trial lawyer in Los Angeles. 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. She was vice-president of the Los Angeles Lawyers Club and headed the international department of the Women's University Club. She was a member of the
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and Mexican Bar Associations. "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."


FIDA

Bates was an officer of the
National Association of Women Lawyers The National Association of Women Lawyers is a voluntary organization founded in 1899 and based in the United States. Its aim is to promote women lawyers and women's legal rights.
, and organized the group's national gatherings in Los Angeles in 1935 and 1939. 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. She was later elected the president of FIDA in 1949.


Editor

She served as the editor (1931; 1935-1936) and wrote essays for the ''Women Lawyers Journal.'' 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. She was also editor for ''La Abogada'' (The Female Lawyer) and ''Lawyers' Club Docket.''


Role in government

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 War children are those born to a local parent and a parent belonging to a foreign military force (usually an occupying force, but also military personnel stationed at military bases on foreign soil). Having a child by a member of a belligerent ...
". She ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the
Los Angeles Board of Education Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States count ...
in 1953.'


Association offices held

She was the first woman to serve on the board of directors of the Southwestern Alumni Association. 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 The National Association of Women Lawyers is a voluntary organization founded in 1899 and based in the United States. Its aim is to promote women lawyers and women's legal rights.
(NAWL), she was on the Executive Board as the delegate from California, and was chair of the organization's annual convention.''''


Publications

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


Personal life

Rosalind Goodrich married writer and editor
Ernest Sutherland Bates Ernest Sutherland Bates (14 October 1879 – 4 December 1939) was an American academic and writer. He taught English and philosophy at Oberlin College from 1903 to 1905, the University of Arizona until 1915, and the University of Oregon from then ...
in 1913. They had two sons, Roland and Vernon, before they divorced in 1919. She married her college drama co-star, blind writer
Leslie Burton Blades Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...
, in 1919; they divorced in 1923. Her son Roland, her law partner, died in 1958, and her mother died in 1959.


Death

Rosalind Goodrich Bates died in 1961, aged 67 years, shot to death at her home in Silver Lake. One suspect was a man involved in a custody battle with one of Bates' clients; he was arrested but later cleared. Her murder remains unsolved.


References


External links


A 1935 photograph of Bates with four other women lawyers and judges
including Oda Faulconer and
Burnita Shelton Matthews Burnita Shelton Matthews (December 28, 1894 – April 25, 1988) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She was the first woman appointed to serve on a United States District Court. Ea ...
, from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection at UCLA {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Rosalind Goodrich 1894 births 1961 deaths 20th-century American women lawyers American lawyers of Mexican descent American people of Italian descent People from Sonsonate Department Clubwomen Southwestern Law School alumni University of Oregon alumni American murder victims Salvadoran emigrants to the United States Deaths by firearm in California