Document Not Available

Interview with Ethel S. Sorokin

IntervieweeInterview with Ethel S. Sorokin American, 1928 - 2012

InterviewerInterviewed by George C. Hastings American, 1928 - 2017

Date2001 January 8

DimensionsDuration: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes, 15 Seconds

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation

DescriptionOral history interview with Ethel S. Sorokin who was interviewed by George C. Hastings on January 8, 2001 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.

Topics Discussed:

- Birth and Early Life: Born on September 17, 1928, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford.

- Her Family: They lived on Williams Street, and later moved to Farmington Avenue and lived there until she married.

- Her Father's Business: Her father, who did not attend college initially, later studied civil engineering at Valparaiso University in Indiana. He owned Capitol Paper Company, which later became Standard Paper Company, a wholesale paper company that had previously been in his father's family.

- Education: Ethel attended kindergarten at Bugbee School, and later went to Sedgwick School. She then attended Hall High School and graduated before going to Vassar College.

- Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin.

- College Education: Ethel majored in political science at Vassar College.

- Milton Sorokin: She met Milton Sorokin during Christmas vacation of her junior year at Vassar. Milton was in law school at the University of Connecticut School of Law. They became engaged before she returned to school in September.

- Law School: While researching her thesis on the conflict between the First Amendment and a fair trial at the University of Connecticut School of Law library in October 1949, Milton suggested she go to law school. She was accepted without needing to take the LSAT.

- Early Work: Worked part-time for the Public Expenditure Council on a research project surveying welfare women who received no support from ex-husbands after divorce.

- Marriage and First Job: Ethel and Milton married two weeks after their graduation. Milton got a job with Levine and Katz, a law firm, through Oscar Levine, and Ethel was also hired by the same firm upon her graduation from law school.

Object number2024.38.10a-m

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)