Obituaries
Woman Lawyer Who Hid Gender in 1930s Law Job Applications Dies at 99
Posted Nov 6, 2009, 08:16 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A woman lawyer who used initials in 1930s job applications to hide her gender has died at the age of 99.
Anne Sullivan, formerly Anne Chawk, was licensed in 1934 and signed her job applications "A.M. Chawk" so they wouldn’t be tossed out, the Chicago Tribune reports. She volunteered in probate court for a year before landing a law firm job where she met her husband, John Sullivan.
In 1948, the couple formed their own firm. They had eight children. A Chicago Tribune story from the 1960s said Anne Sullivan was someone who "concocts a cake or legal brief with equal ease."
Sullivan apparently had a sweet tooth. She had credited Fannie May chocolates for giving her the energy to work her way through DePaul law school while holding down a night job at the phone company. She practiced law into her 80s.
Her daughter Debbie Roberts, also a lawyer, told the Tribune that a family member offered Sullivan a box of chocolates the night before she died. "She took the biggest turtle," Roberts said.
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