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Jackie Ruffin, First woman lawyer in California championed the idea of public defenders (review of Woman Lawyer – The Trials of Clara Foltz by Barbara Babcock), 98 Women Lawyers Journal 38 (2013):
The life of Clara Foltz, 19th-century trailblazing lawyer, women’s rights activist and social reformer, has few equals for drama, achievement and sheer chutzpah. In Woman Lawyer, Professor Emerita Barbara Babcock, herself a trailblazer as the first woman appointed to the regular faculty at Stanford Law School, has written a richly detailed account of Foltz’s bold and remarkable life, replete with "firsts," including first female lawyer in California, first woman to serve in a statewide California office and first female deputy prosecutor.