Roxanne Barton Conlin, Attorney

Roxanne Conlin has her own law firm in Des Moines, where she exclusivelyrepresents people who have been harmed by others, whether by discrimination,products, doctors or vehicles.

She entered Drake University in 1961, when she was only 16, and graduatedfrom law school with honors five years later at the age of 21.

From 1969 to 1976, she was an Assistant Attorney General for Iowa, where shewas head of the Iowa Civil Rights section and fought race and sexdiscrimination. She also rewrote Iowa's inheritance laws; toughened the state'sassault laws and blocked a merger of two major utilities that would have hurtthe average consumer.

She left the Attorney General's Office to become a consultant to the UnitedStates Department of State for International Women's Year.

In 1977, she became one of the first two women ever to be a United StatesAttorney. Roxanne put heroin dealers behind bars and prosecuted white-collarcrimes and corruption in public office. She also served as President of theFederal Executive Council, which is composed of the heads of all seventy federalagencies.

Roxanne has devoted much time to individual organizations and causes andcommunity service. She founded and was the first chair of the Iowa Women'sPolitical caucus, and was president and general counsel of the NOW Legal Defenseand Education Fund. Most recently, she has been named by the National LawJournal as one of the fifty most influential women lawyers in America, one ofthe 100 most influential lawyers in America and one of the top 10 litigators.

Her achievements have brought such honors as induction into the Iowa Woman'sHall of Fame and national attention such as selection in 1975 as one of the 44Women Who Could Save America and in 1976 as one of 44 Women Qualified forCabinet Position.

In June of 1982, Roxanne won a three-way primary and became the Democraticnominee for Governor of Iowa. She was narrowly defeated in her effort to becomethat state's first Democratic governor in 14 years, and its first womangovernor.

She has had many other firsts. She was the first woman president of theAssociation of Trial Lawyers of America, a 60,000 member organization ofconsumer attorneys. She was the first woman to chair the Roscoe PoundFoundation, a trial lawyers think tank. She was the founder and first chair ofthe Civil Justice Foundation, which provides direct support to grass rootsorganizations and disabled individuals.

She was inducted in 1995 into the Inner Circle of Advocates, limited to only100 members nationwide.

Recently, she was thrilled to have a law school scholarship named after herat the University of Missouri. She also received the Rosalie Wahl Award from theMinnesota Women Lawyers Association.

She married her husband, James, 37 years ago. They have raised four childrenand have four grandchildren.

• U. S. v. May 1980

• State v. West 1977

• State v. Bartz 1974

• Gail v. Clark 1987

• Doe v. Cherwitz 1994

• Cedar Rapids Community School Dist. v. Parr 1975

• Beeman v. Manville Corp. Asbestos Disease Compensation Fund 1993