Document Not Available

Interview with Judge Frederica S. Brenneman

IntervieweeInterview with Frederica S. Brenneman American, 1926 - 2021

InterviewerInterviewed by A. Susan Peck American, born 1945

Date2000 September 26

DimensionsDuration: 1 Hour, 39 Minutes, 35 Seconds

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation

DescriptionOral history interview with Judge Frederica S. Brenneman who was interviewed by Judge A. Susan Peck on September 26, 2000 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.

Topics Discussed:

- Early Life and Family Background: Frederica discusses her parents. Her father was a newspaperman from Louisville, Kentucky, and her mother was a writer from Detroit.

- Great Depression: She grew up in Ann Arbor during the Depression, which emphasized education over material things.

- Radcliffe College: She started Radcliffe College in July 1943 at the age of 16, attending year-round due to World War II. She majored in economics. She graduated early in February 1947. Her college experience included classes with men from Harvard's Naval ROTC, and she participated in the founding of Radio Radcliffe.

- Post-College Career: After graduating from Radcliffe, she worked for a year at the newly formed International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C., starting after February 1947.
Around February 1948, she moved to New York and worked in public relations for the Bureau of Labor Statistics until October 1950.

- Harvard Law School Admission and Experience: In 1950, Harvard Law School admitted its first class of women, and Frederica was one of 13 women in a class of about 550 men.

- Marriage: She married Russell Brenneman in the summer between her first and second year of law school.

- Move to Connecticut and Early Legal Career: After her husband, Russell, left the Army in 1956, they moved to Torrington, Connecticut, seeking a different way of life. They both passed the Connecticut bar exam in 1956. She initially stayed home, raising children, and did limited legal work like searching titles for her husband's firm.

- Motherhood: Her first child was born in 1960, the second in 1961, and her daughter was born in 1964 after they moved to Essex.

- Juvenile Judge and Juvenile Justice: She was appointed to the Connecticut Bench as a juvenile judge in 1967. She discusses the challenges and rewards of juvenile justice, emphasizing her interest in human lives over money.

- In 1978, she co-founded Children-in-Placement Program in Connecticut.

- "Judging Amy": Her daughter, Amy Brenneman, co-created and starred in the CBS drama "Judging Amy," which was inspired by Frederica's experiences as a judge. Amy discussed this at a Harvard Law School reunion in 1998.

Object number2024.38.7a-k

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)