Mabel Walker Willebrandt
| Mabel Walker Willebrandt | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Assistant Attorney General of the United States | |
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In office 1921–1929 |
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| President |
Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Mabel Elizabeth Walker May 23, 1889 Woodsdale, Kansas |
| Died | April 6, 1963 (aged 73) Riverside, California |
| Spouse(s) | Arthur F. Willebrandt (1910-1920) |
Mabel Walker Willebrandt (May 23, 1889 – April 6, 1963), popularly known to her contemporaries as the First Lady of Law, was a U.S. Assistant Attorney General from 1921 to 1929, handling cases concerning violations of the Volstead Act, federal taxation, and the Bureau of Federal Prisons during the Prohibition Era.
Willebrandt was born Mabel Elizabeth Walker in Woodsdale, Kansas, on May 23, 1889. Her father, David W. Walker, edited a local newspaper. In February 1910, she married Arthur Willebrandt, the principal of the school where she was teaching, and they moved to Phoenix, where he recuperated from tuberculosis while she finished college and supported them on a teacher's salary. She graduated from Tempe Normal School, later Arizona State University, in 1911.
In 1912, the Willebrandts moved to Los Angeles, where she taught elementary school and studied law at night. She received her law degree from the University of Southern California in 1916 and an LL.M. a year later. The Willebrandts separated in 1916 and divorced in 1924.
During her last semester of law school, Willebrandt began doing pro bono work in the police courts while still teaching full-time. Ultimately she argued 2,000 cases as the city's first female public defender, handling mostly cases of prostitution. Her efforts led courts to permit the testimony of both men and women. She also campaigned successfully for the enactment of a revised community property statute at the state level. After graduating, she opened a practice in downtown Los Angeles, along with Fred Horowitz, who later built the Chateau Marmont.
During World War I, Willebrandt served as head of the Legal Advisory Board for draft cases in Los Angeles. In 1921, at age 32, her law school professor and mentor, Frank Doherty, as well as Senator Hiram Johnson and all the judges in southern California, recommended her for the post of Assistant Attorney General in the Warren G. Harding administration.
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