Law: Getting a Piece of the Power

Women barred from partnerships can now go to court

In 1873, after she was prevented from practicing law in Illinois because she was a woman, Myra Bradwell went to the U.S. Supreme Court. That tribunal turned her away, with Justice Joseph P. Bradley harrumphing, "The paramount mission and destiny of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator." The law of the land has changed some in the 111 years since, and last week a Supreme Court that includes the first female Justice endorsed the use of a new weapon...