Hattie Leah Henenberg

Hattie Leah Henenberg (February 16, 1893 – November 28, 1974) was a lawyer from Texas. She was a member of the All-Woman Supreme Court convened in 1925, the first all-female high court in the United States.

Henenberg was born in Ennis, Texas to a Hungarian-born mother and an American-born father. With her parents, Samuel and Rosa (née Trebitsch), and six siblings she moved to Dallas in 1904, where the family helped her ailing grandfather Lazar in the running of his pawn shop; there she attended the public schools. She found work as a stenographer while taking night classes at the Dallas School of Law, an affiliate of Southern Methodist University. She obtained her law license in 1916, and would go on to practice law in Dallas for fifty years.

Henenberg was always interested in social causes. During World War I she served on the Legal Advisory Board helping men complete draft registration forms. She founded the Free Legal Aid Bureau of the Dallas Bar Association in 1924. She was also interested in the welfare of children, serving on the child welfare committee of the State Bar of Texas and creating a toy-lending library for poor youth. She also served in varying capacities with a number of civic organizations, such as Zonta International, for which she served as Dallas president; she was also a member of the Order of Eastern Star, Business and Professional Women’s Club, and Temple Emanu-El of Dallas.

In 1924, a case involving the Woodmen of the World came before the Supreme Court of Texas, all of whose members were affiliated with the organization. To hear the case Governor of Texas Pat M. Neff hit upon the solution of an all-female court, as women were not eligible for membership in the Woodmen and so would not have a conflict of interest. Unlike Edith Wilmans and Nellie Gray Robertson, both of whom had been previously appointed and required to step aside, Henenberg had the required seven years' experience practicing law in the state She was one of two associate justices ultimately chosen, along with Ruth Virginia Brazzil; Hortense Sparks Ward was chosen special chief justice. The court served for five months and met twice before disbanding.

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