JUDGE BARRON AND HER SOCIAL CLINIC:
A Case Study in Feminine Judging
“What kind of a judge does a Woman Make?” asked Boston Globe reporter
Dorothy G. Wayman in the title of her 1947 article marking Judge Jennie Loitman
Barron’s tenth year on the Boston Municipal Court bench (Boston Sunday Globe
December 14, 1947). Barron was the first, and at that time the only, woman to serve as a
fulltime judge in Massachusetts. Despite her token status, she made no overt effort to fit
in with her male colleagues. Barron wore white lace dickeys with her judicial robes to
provide a more feminine appearance. Her chambers included fresh flowers, palm plants,
and pictures of her children and grandchildren (Judicial Solemnity, Aimless Chatter with
Young all Part of “Nanny’s” Day, The Evening Bulletin, Providence, n.d.). Waymen goes
on to describe Judge Barron as both knowledgeable in the law and human and
sympathetic as well as charming and feminine (Wayman, Dorothy. What Kind of Judges
Does a Woman Make? Boston Sunday Globe, December 14, 1947). In many respects
Judge Barron cultivated her reputation as a “judge with a difference.”
Jennie Loitman Barron was born in Boston in 1891, the daughter of Russian
immigrant parents. She graduated from Boston’s Girls High School and earned three
degrees from Boston University, an A.B. in 1911, an LL.B. in 1913 and an LL.M. in
1914. She opened a private law practice in Boston in 1914. She was later joined in
practice by Samuel Barron, Jr., a Harvard Law School graduate whom she married in
1918. In 1934 she was appointed a special, part-time justice in Massachusetts District
1
Support for this work was provided in part by The Women's Education and
Leadership Fund, a Legacy of Hartford College for Women at the University of
Hartford."
2
Convention