Christine Beshar

Christine Beshar (née von Wedemeyer; November 6, 1929 – January 11, 2018) was an American lawyer who specialized in estate law and trusts. She was the first woman to become a partner at the firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She successfully proposed that the firm open an on-site daycare facility for employees in 1989, a first for a major New York law firm. Beshar was born in Germany and attended Smith College on a Fulbright scholarship. She passed the New York bar exam despite never attending law school.

Early life and education Christine Luise Luitgarde Annette von Wedemeyer was born in Patzig, Germany, on November 6, 1929, to Prussian farmers Ruth von Kleist-Retzow and Hans von Wedemeyer. Her father died in World War II. She attended the University of Hamburg in 1951 and the University of Tübingen in 1952. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and attended Smith College in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree in 1953.

Legal career Beshar worked briefly as a switchboard operator at a small law firm making $55 per week. She was then hired as an assistant librarian for the firm Davis Polk. She gained legal experience, reading books on constitutional law, contracts and rules of evidence. and was among the first women to be a partner in a Wall Street law firm. She died on January 11, 2018, in Manhattan. They returned to the United States and Christine gained citizenship in 1957. They had four children. and spent weekends at a second home in Putnam County. Their family was featured in a 1988 article in The New York Times about children of "superachieving couples". Her son Peter is the general counsel of the Department of the Air Force.