Interview with Judge Wendy W. Susco
IntervieweeInterview with
Wendy W. Susco
American, 1944 - 2018
InterviewerInterviewed by
Anne M. Hamilton
American
Date2001 March 28
DimensionsDuration: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes, 6 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Judge Wendy W. Susco who was interviewed by Anne M. Hamilton on March 28, 2001 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Wendy Susco was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1944 and grew up in Cheshire. Her mother was a professional volunteer, and her father was an electrical engineer and Minority Selectman in Cheshire.
- High School: She attended Cheshire High School. During summers, she worked selling things and participated in Girl Scouts and 4-H during the school year. She had an internship at the Peabody Museum in New Haven.
- College: She attended Smith College, graduating in 1966. She chose Smith, an all-women's college, believing she would be taken more seriously as a student. She majored in Government and was active in political campaigns, including an Ed Brooke campaign for Senate.
- Law School: She took her LSATs in the fall of her senior year and was accepted to the University of Connecticut. She worked for a lawyer in Springfield, Massachusetts before starting law school at night. She graduated from law school in 1971. Shirley Bysiewicz, the law librarian, was the only woman teaching at UConn at that time, and she taught Legal Writing.
- First Job: After graduating, she took a job in the law department of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in Hartford. She was the first woman lawyer hired by the corporation. Her work involved claims litigation, personnel department legal issues, and representing the corporation in discrimination complaints.
- Transition to Teaching Law: She started teaching law at the University of Connecticut in 1974. She taught Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Insurance Law, and Fair Employment Practices.
- Becoming a Judge: She became a judge in 1982. Before becoming a judge, she was a law professor and a member of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women in Connecticut. She also headed their Legislative Committee and dealt with members of the Judiciary Committee.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Wendy Susco was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1944 and grew up in Cheshire. Her mother was a professional volunteer, and her father was an electrical engineer and Minority Selectman in Cheshire.
- High School: She attended Cheshire High School. During summers, she worked selling things and participated in Girl Scouts and 4-H during the school year. She had an internship at the Peabody Museum in New Haven.
- College: She attended Smith College, graduating in 1966. She chose Smith, an all-women's college, believing she would be taken more seriously as a student. She majored in Government and was active in political campaigns, including an Ed Brooke campaign for Senate.
- Law School: She took her LSATs in the fall of her senior year and was accepted to the University of Connecticut. She worked for a lawyer in Springfield, Massachusetts before starting law school at night. She graduated from law school in 1971. Shirley Bysiewicz, the law librarian, was the only woman teaching at UConn at that time, and she taught Legal Writing.
- First Job: After graduating, she took a job in the law department of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in Hartford. She was the first woman lawyer hired by the corporation. Her work involved claims litigation, personnel department legal issues, and representing the corporation in discrimination complaints.
- Transition to Teaching Law: She started teaching law at the University of Connecticut in 1974. She taught Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Insurance Law, and Fair Employment Practices.
- Becoming a Judge: She became a judge in 1982. Before becoming a judge, she was a law professor and a member of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women in Connecticut. She also headed their Legislative Committee and dealt with members of the Judiciary Committee.
Object number2024.38.13a-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)
Subject Terms
- Women
- Lawyers
- Women lawyers
- Oral history
- Interview films
- Interview transcripts
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Attorneys
- Cheshire (Conn.)
- Education
- Peabody Museum of Natural History
- New Haven (Conn.)
- Springfield (Mass.)
- University of Connecticut
- Insurance companies
- Hartford (Conn.)
- Law schools
- Education
- Family
- University of Connecticut School of Law Library (Hartford, Conn.)
- Bysiewicz, Shirley Raissi, -1990
- Connecticut General Life Insurance Company
- Corporation law
- Professors
- Judges
- Elections
- Politics, practical
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
On View
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