Annette Abbott Adams

Annette Abbott Adams (12 March 1877 – 26 October 1956) was an American lawyer and judge. She was the first woman to be the Assistant Attorney General in the United States.

Biography

Born Annette Grace Abbot in Prattville, California, Adams was educated at the Chico State Normal School and the University of California, Berkeley, where she obtained her undergraduate degree in 1904, and her law degree in 1912. Before beginning her legal career, she taught grammar school and was one of the first female school principals in California, at Modoc County High School, in Alturas.

In 1912, she was admitted to the State Bar of California. She campaigned for Woodrow Wilson in California, and was rewarded after his election with an appointment as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California, 1914–1919. In 1918–1920 she was attorney in the same district. In 1920 she was appointed as the first female Assistant Attorney General of the United States, an office which she resigned in 1921.