"A Kentucky Portia": The Legal Career and Legislative Legacy of Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge, Kentucky's First Woman Lawyer

In 1897, the Texas Daily Herald ran a story about a native Lexingtonian under the headline "A Kentucky Portia." This subject of the story was "Miss Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge, eldest daughter of Col. William Campbell Preston Breckinridge, the renowned orator, ex-Congressman and lawyer," who had recently been "admitted to the practice of law before the Court of Appeals," thus becoming "the first woman to be accorded that privilege in Kentucky." Describing "Miss Breckinridge" as "possessed of an abundance of will" inherited from her mother's family, the Deshas, the reporter also noted that she "inherit[ed] a taste for the law" from her father's family; her great-great-grandfather, John Breckinridge, had been Thomas Jefferson's attorney general, and "at no period since then has the bar of this country been without an able member bearing the family name." Remarking that "Miss Breckinridge" had been largely responsible for the admission of women to the state's flagship university, the reporter explained that she had subsequently earned degrees from Wellesley College and the University of Chicago as well as studying law both in Europe and in her father's law office in Lexington. Praising "Miss Breckinridge" as "a young woman of pleasing personality" and attractive appearance, the reporter added that "she is a brilliant conversationalist… equally at home on all the leading questions of the day—the law, social science and political economy." Small wonder, then, that the reporter opined: "Miss Breckinridge is unusually well equipped for the practice of her profession."¹

Sophonisba P. Breckinridge (1866–1948). University of Chicago.

Sophonisba Breckinridge—"Nisba" to her family and friends—had struggled for years to attain legal training and gain admission to the bar. Yet shortly after this article was printed, she abandoned both her legal career and her home state of Kentucky to move to Chicago, where she became a social science researcher, a social work professor, and a social justice advocate. Although she never again practiced law, she used her hard-won legal expertise to promote legislation to address the nation's most pressing problems. This article will address her lengthy struggle to achieve her legal ambitions, her brief and troubled legal career, and her lasting legislative legacy. Ultimately, the "Kentucky Portia" would become an important and effective advocate for social justice in modern America.

Gender profoundly shaped Sophonisba Breckinridge's difficult pursuit of a legal education, her dissatisfying legal career, and her decision to shape policy rather than practice law. Limited options for legal study for women, combined with the expectation that unmarried women devote themselves to family duties, repeatedly delayed her pursuit of a legal education. Even after she achieved her goal of studying and practicing law, she struggled with her father's dismissive attitude, local newspapers' condescending coverage, and—most of all—women's legal disabilities, which hindered her abilities to represent female clients. Eventually, she decided that the best way to use the law to promote justice was outside the courtroom. As she explained, "women lawyers" like herself often turned to "public work" to change, rather than enforce, "unjust" laws.²

Sophonisba Breckinridge's fascination with the law began in childhood. Like many other future feminists of her generation, Nisba enjoyed a close relationship with her father. W. C. P. Breckinridge was a Confederate veteran, lawyer, and politician. According to family legend, even before Nisba could walk, he taught her the alphabet by pointing the letters out in his law books, imbuing her with a lifelong reverence for both learning and law. W.C.P. also impressed his favorite daughter with the importance of both high achievement and public service, encouraging her to join the ranks of "New Women" who sought higher education, financial independence, and public influence in turn-of-the-century America. "The [Breckinridge] name has been connected with good intellectual work for some generations—for over a century," he counseled. "You must preserve this connection for the next generation." By frequently taking her with him to his law offices in...