Lorna E. Lockwood

Lorna Elizabeth Lockwood (March 24, 1903 – September 23, 1977) was an American lawyer and judge who served as justice (and at times chief justice) of the Arizona Supreme Court.

Born in what was then Arizona Territory, Lockwood was the daughter of Alfred Collins Lockwood, who later served as chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. Lockwood attended the University of Arizona and the University of Arizona College of Law before entering private practice and serving several terms in the Arizona House of Representatives. Lockwood spent a decade on the bench of the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa County, the first woman to serve in that role. In 1960, Lockwood was elected to the Arizona Supreme Court. She served as chief justice from 1965 to 1966 and 1970 to 1971, becoming the first female chief justice of a state supreme court in the United States. She retired from the court in 1975 and died two years later.

Early life and education Lockwood was born on March 24, 1903, in Douglas, Arizona Territory, a mining town, to Daisy Maude Lincoln and Alfred Collins Lockwood. She was the grandniece of Abraham Lincoln.

Her father was an attorney and later chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. In 1913, the family moved to Tombstone and Lorna graduated from Tombstone High School in 1920.

Lockwood received her B.A. in Spanish from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1923. There, she was a member of the first initiated class of the Chi Omega Fraternity Zeta Beta Chapter. Her father joined her in meeting with the dean of the law school, and she was permitted to attend some law courses as an undergraduate. In 1942, Lockwood served as assistant to U.S. Representative John R. Murdock of Arizona. In 1944, Lockwood returned to Phoenix, Arizona, to assist the war effort as district price attorney for the Office of Price Administration. In 1946, after the end of World War II, Lockwood was returned to the Arizona House of Representative and became chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the House Rules Committee. In 1947, Phoenix Mayor Ray Busey appointed Lockwood to the Charter Revision Committee, an important local post. In 1949, Lockwood left private practice to become assistant attorney general for Arizona, overseeing the state welfare department.

In 1960, Lockwood challenged an incumbent justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. Lockwood campaigned around the state, traveling by airplane piloted by Virginia Hash, a fellow attorney.

Lockwood wrote several important opinions, a number of which expanded women's legal rights and consumer protection. She believed that her most significant opinion was the 1973 Shirley v. Superior Court, which upheld the right of a Native American who lived on a reservation to hold political office in his county. Lockwood founded the Arizona Big Brothers Big Sisters and Florence Crittenton's Girls Ranch.

Death and legacy Lockwood retired from the court in 1975. She died of complications of pneumonia on September 23, 1977, at Phoenix's Good Samaritan Hospital.

After Lockwood's death, a group of female lawyers created the Lorna Lockwood Traveling Trophy. The trophy was a Barbie in a judge's robe with a plaque with the names of Phoenix women who joined the judiciary. When Sandra Day O'Connor joined the Supreme Court, the trophy was retired and given to Justice O'Connor.

In 2012, Sonja White David published Lady Law, a biography of Lockwood. This book was an Arizona Historical Advisory Commission Centennial Legacy Project.