Vaino Spencer

Vaino Spencer
Division One California Court of Appeal
Personal details
Born (1920-07-22) July 22, 1920
Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s) Lorenzo V. Spencer
Education Polytechnic High School
Alma mater Los Angeles City College, Southwestern Law School
Profession lawyer
Known for first African-American woman appointed to a judgeship in California

Vaino Hassan Spencer (born July 22, 1920) is an American judge, the first African-American woman appointed to a judgeship in California.[1] She co-founded the Black Women Lawyers Association in 1975,[2] and the National Association of Women Judges in 1979.[3]

Early life and education

Vaino Hassan was born in 1920, in Los Angeles, California. As a teenager, she appeared as a dancer in a Laurel and Hardy movie, Bonnie Scotland (1935), along with her father, Abdul Hassan.[4]

She graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1938, attended Los Angeles City College as an undergraduate, and earned a law degree from Southwestern Law School in 1952.[5] She was the third African-American woman admitted to the California bar.[6] Before her law degree, she held a real estate license, and worked in that business.[7]

Career

Vaino Hassan Spencer practiced as a lawyer in Los Angeles. In 1961 she was appointed as a municipal court judge in Los Angeles, the first black woman in California appointed to a judgeship. In 1976, she became a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, and in 1980 she was named a Presiding Judge of the Division One California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District. She retired in 2007 as "one of the longest-serving judges in California history."[8]

Personal life and legacy

Vaino Hassan married real estate agent Lorenzo V. Spencer.[9] They divorced in 1967.[10]

The National Association of Women Judges presents the Justice Vaino Spencer Leadership Award for outstanding leadership.[11]

References

  1. "L. A. Gets First Negro Woman Judge in State" Pasadena Independent (October 9, 1961): 2. via Newspapers.com
  2. Beth Ann Krier, "Double Minority: Black Women Lawyers Organize" Los Angeles Times (November 23, 1975): E1.
  3. Shae Collins, "Black History Abounds in L.A." Our Weekly Los Angeles (February 20, 2013).
  4. Amina Hassan, Loren Miller, Civil Rights Attorney and Journalist (University of Oklahoma Press 2015): 266, note 153. ISBN 9780806152677
  5. "Pioneering Alumna Vaino Spencer Retires from the Bench" Southwestern Law School, news release (October 17, 2007).
  6. Yussuf Simmonds, "African American Women Appeal Court Justices" Los Angeles Sentinel (March 29, 2012).
  7. Jessie Carnie Smith, ed., Notable Black American Women Volume 2 (VNR AG 1996): 612. ISBN 9780810391772
  8. "Vaino Spencer to Retired as Presiding Justice" Metropolitan News-Enterprise (August 27, 2007).
  9. "Woman Rules" Jet Magazine (October 26, 1961): 15.
  10. Beverly Beyette, "Q&A: Justice Vaino Spencer on her Career" Los Angeles Times (October 29, 1980): 10.
  11. National Association of Women Judges, NAWJ Award Descriptions.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.