Interview with Patricia Froehlich
IntervieweeInterview with
Patricia Froehlich
American
InterviewerInterviewed by
Stephen Conover
Date2016 October 26
DimensionsDuration: 9 Minutes, 13 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Patricia Froehlich who was interviewed by Stephen Conover on October 26, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Background: Patricia parents' occupations - her father in construction and her mother as a bank teller and loan officer.
- High School: Her experience in a small town on Eastern Long Island's north shore. Initially wanted to work as a secretary after starting college.
- Colleges: She attended Suffolk Community College and later George Washington University in 1983.
- Educational Journey: Patricia elaborates on her motivation to become a prosecutor, stemming from a fascination with criminal justice and psychology, and a desire to understand both the perpetrators and the impact on victims. She transferred from George Washington to the University of Florida.
- Family Support: Her mother bought her her first Black's Law Dictionary.
- CT Law School: Patricia moved to Connecticut and began law school at the University of Bridgeport in 1986, graduating in 1989.
- Law School Experience: Patricia, at age 29, was considered an older student but found a supportive study group with other women at the University of Bridgeport. She worked part-time doing title searches and legal research. She gained practical experience through a summer temp agency job and later by securing a summer position with Steve Conover's firm.
- Transition to Legal Profession: Patricia's work with Steve Conover's office in her third year was crucial in her development from a law student to an aspiring attorney.
- Early Prosecutorial Career and Professional Challenges: Patricia started an internship at the Danbury State's Attorney's office in December 1988. She gained significant courtroom experience, trying motor vehicle infraction cases as a law student. After the bar exam in December 1989, she began working as a paid per diem for the Danbury State's Attorney's office as an attorney. She then worked as a temporary Assistant Clerk in Waterbury Superior Court before returning to Steve Conover's firm in March 1990 as an independent contractor, becoming an Associate in May 1990.
- State's Attorney Role and Community Involvement: In August 1990, the hiring freeze was lifted, and Patricia was appointed as a Deputy Assistant State's Attorney, sworn in on September 28, 1990. Her work included reviewing warrants and handling criminal dockets. In July 2001, she became the State's Attorney for Windham. She served in this role for fifteen years, retiring on August 1, 2016. She later became active in the Windham County Bar Association, chairing the Public Service Committee. Through this committee, she initiated a project providing backpacks with essential items for women and children in local shelters.
- Evolution of Legal Practice and Technology's Impact: Patricia noted a shift in legal practice from more trials in the early stages of her career to more diversionary programs and negotiated dispositions in later years. Technology significantly influenced her work. Recorded interrogations also proved beneficial in criminal investigations.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Background: Patricia parents' occupations - her father in construction and her mother as a bank teller and loan officer.
- High School: Her experience in a small town on Eastern Long Island's north shore. Initially wanted to work as a secretary after starting college.
- Colleges: She attended Suffolk Community College and later George Washington University in 1983.
- Educational Journey: Patricia elaborates on her motivation to become a prosecutor, stemming from a fascination with criminal justice and psychology, and a desire to understand both the perpetrators and the impact on victims. She transferred from George Washington to the University of Florida.
- Family Support: Her mother bought her her first Black's Law Dictionary.
- CT Law School: Patricia moved to Connecticut and began law school at the University of Bridgeport in 1986, graduating in 1989.
- Law School Experience: Patricia, at age 29, was considered an older student but found a supportive study group with other women at the University of Bridgeport. She worked part-time doing title searches and legal research. She gained practical experience through a summer temp agency job and later by securing a summer position with Steve Conover's firm.
- Transition to Legal Profession: Patricia's work with Steve Conover's office in her third year was crucial in her development from a law student to an aspiring attorney.
- Early Prosecutorial Career and Professional Challenges: Patricia started an internship at the Danbury State's Attorney's office in December 1988. She gained significant courtroom experience, trying motor vehicle infraction cases as a law student. After the bar exam in December 1989, she began working as a paid per diem for the Danbury State's Attorney's office as an attorney. She then worked as a temporary Assistant Clerk in Waterbury Superior Court before returning to Steve Conover's firm in March 1990 as an independent contractor, becoming an Associate in May 1990.
- State's Attorney Role and Community Involvement: In August 1990, the hiring freeze was lifted, and Patricia was appointed as a Deputy Assistant State's Attorney, sworn in on September 28, 1990. Her work included reviewing warrants and handling criminal dockets. In July 2001, she became the State's Attorney for Windham. She served in this role for fifteen years, retiring on August 1, 2016. She later became active in the Windham County Bar Association, chairing the Public Service Committee. Through this committee, she initiated a project providing backpacks with essential items for women and children in local shelters.
- Evolution of Legal Practice and Technology's Impact: Patricia noted a shift in legal practice from more trials in the early stages of her career to more diversionary programs and negotiated dispositions in later years. Technology significantly influenced her work. Recorded interrogations also proved beneficial in criminal investigations.
Object number2024.38.36a-b
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
- Construction workers
- Bankers
- Law schools
- Bridgeport (Conn.)
- Danbury (Conn.)
- Waterbury (Conn.)
- Courthouses
- Technology
- Family
- Education
- Prosecutors
- Law firms
- Women's shelters
- Windham (Conn.)
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
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