Sylvia Roberts

Sylvia Roberts (1933–2014) was an American lawyer known for legal work on behalf of patients at the East Louisiana State Hospital's Forensic Unit, for the National Organization for Women's (NOW) Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDEF), as an educator and advocate for the legal rights of women in Louisiana, and on the behalf of victims of domestic violence. Roberts known for representing Lorena Weeks in Weeks v. Southern Bell, the first legal victory in which the National Organization for Women used Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to fight gender-based discrimination.

She served as NOW's first Southern Regional Director and as president of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (currently Legal Momentum) (1972–1974).

Her lifelong advocacy on behalf of the victims of mental illness, workplace discrimination, the legal system, and domestic abuse was exemplified through her tireless pursuit of legal justice and efforts to educate the public.

Early life and education Roberts was born on January 6, 1933, in Bryan, Texas, and grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Roberts attended the University of California, Los Angeles and graduated in 1953. Although she had never seen a woman lawyer, Roberts was determined to become one. While she was accepted into the law school at UCLA, she returned to her home state of Louisiana to attend law school at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge (where she was one of three women in the school)

NOW and NOW legal defense and education fund In 1966, Roberts joined the newly founded National Organization for Women, She was quickly recruited to serve on the NOW Legal Committee where she was integral to NOW's litigation strategy. Marguerite Rawait and the other lawyers of the NOW Legal Committee, focused on sex discrimination cases in hopes of utilizing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to strike down the protective labor laws which were preventing women from equal employment and payment and create a legal precedent.

Her small stature of 5'2", was advantageous during Weeks v. Southern Bell when she used all the tools involved in a switchman's job as evidence, walking around the courtroom carrying each item and demonstrating the absurdity and discrimination of the weight limitation rules. Cussler v. University of Maryland, Braden v. University of Pittsburgh.

When not preparing and arguing cases on behalf of LDEF, Roberts focused on the legal rights and status of women in Louisiana. She served as Secretary to the Louisiana Commission on the Status of Women (1970-1973), was a member of the National News Council, and chair of the committee on the Rights of Women of the American Bar Association. During this time, Roberts also collaborated with fellow members of the Association for Women Attorneys on Corpus Christi Parish Credit Union v. Selina K. Martin, a 1978 case which led to the end Louisiana's Head and Master laws.

Founding of Baton Rouge NOW Roberts and Roberta Madden teamed up to found a Baton Rouge chapter of the National Organization for Women. the first case to define the phrase "history of family violence".

Abolition of Head and Master laws of Louisiana In her capacity as Southern Regional Director of NOW, Roberts traveled the southern United States helping spread the ideas of feminism and found new chapters of NOW. Roberts collaborated with several other lawyers on Corpus Christi Parish Credit Union v. Selina K. Martin, She was a member of the VFA's Honorary Board.

In 2016, Roberts was posthumously inducted into the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame.

Legacy Roberts's activism inspired many women to get involved in the feminist movement, including Karline Tierney the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections Louisiana State University Libraries, Baton Rouge, LA as the Sylvia Roberts Papers, Mss. 3259.