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Document Not Available for Interview with Judge Ellen Bree Burns
Interview with Judge Ellen Bree Burns
Document Not Available for Interview with Judge Ellen Bree Burns

Interview with Judge Ellen Bree Burns

IntervieweeInterview with Ellen Bree Burns American, 1923 - 2019
InterviewerInterviewed by Bruce M. Stave American, 1937 - 2017
Date1999 November 24
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Judge Ellen Bree Burns who was interviewed by Bruce M. Stave on November 24, 1999 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.

Topics Discussed:

- Early Life and Family : Born on December 13, 1923, in New Haven, Connecticut. Lived in Hamden for early years and after marriage. One of three daughters. Her mother worked as an inspector during World War II. Her father was a Veterans Employment Representative for the State of Connecticut. Her grandfathers, James Bree and William Bree, were lawyers and state senators.

- Education: Attended Spring Glen School and Hamden High School. Graduated from Albertus Magnus College with a B.A. in September 1944. Entered Yale Law School in July 1945 and graduated in 1947, both on accelerated wartime programs. She majored in English and studied Greek for three years at Albertus Magnus.

- Interests: Reading, ice-skating, was a Girl Scout.

- Experience: Discusses being a woman in Law School , approximately six women in her Yale Law class. Notable female classmates and friends include Anita Robbins, Alicia Connor, Mary Fitzgerald, and Catherine Roraback.

- Law School Activities and Preferred Subjects.

- First Job After Law School and Career in the Legislature : Graduated in 1947. First job was with a special commission revising Connecticut Statutes. Joined the Legislative Commissioner's Office in 1949. Worked closely with legislators, especially the Judiciary Committee. Key legislative accomplishments included the abolition of county government and restructuring the state government, and completely redoing the criminal code. Appointment to the Bench. First appointed to the Circuit Court in 1973 by Governor Meskill. Her first assignment was in GA 14 in Hartford, a traffic and small claims court.

- Religion.
Object number2024.38.4a-c
NotesProject Overview: At the turn of the 20th century, other than Mary Hall, women lawyers were virtually unknown in Connecticut. By contrast, at the turn of the 21st century, law schools were enrolling roughly the same number of women as men. Since their earliest time at the bar, women have become leaders in all areas of the profession at a pace out of all proportion to their brief history and number.

In 1999, the Fellows of the Connecticut Bar Foundation initiated the Oral History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project. Within the framework of this dynamic project, the Fellows have been creating a permanent video, audio, and photographic historical record of milestone achievements of women as they have become more visible and achieved prominence in the field of law. In 2019, a leadership donation of $20,000 from the law firm of Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey enabled the project to significantly broaden its scope and plan for the future.

Through its first two phases, the project worked with award-winning documentarian Karyl Evans and attorney/photographer Isabel Chenoweth to produce fifty-eight oral history interviews with outstanding female attorneys and 118 portraits of women in the Connecticut judiciary.

The oral history interviews have collected the stories of women whose ingenuity, perseverance, and intelligence dismantled barriers that historically prevented women from pursuing careers in the law. Connecticut has benefited from the efforts of these “pioneers” as they enriched the legal profession by joining the ranks of their male peers and paved the way for more women to join the profession. (Source: Connecticut Bar Foundation)
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