Interview with Diane Woodfield Whitney
IntervieweeInterview with
Diane Woodfield Whitney
American
InterviewerInterviewed by
Jean Perry Phillips
American
Date2016 October 26
DimensionsDuration: 9 Minutes, 5 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Diane Woodfield Whitney who was interviewed by Jean Perry Phillips on October 26, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Diane Whitney grew up on the North Shore of Long Island in Port Jefferson. Her father owned a men's clothing store, and her mother was a stay-at-home. She did not know any attorneys or women in professional careers while growing up, snice most women she knew were in traditional roles like nurses or teachers.
- Professional Aspirations: As a child, Diane wanted to be a physical therapist.
- College Education: She attended William Smith College in Geneva, New York, and graduated in 1967, majoring in English. After college, she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Colgate.
- Early Teaching Career: Diane taught for half a year in Ilion, New York, and then moved to Connecticut after getting married, where she taught at the Oxford School in Hartford. Her teaching career ended for a while after she had two sons.
- Community Involvement: She became involved in community activities in Windsor, serving on the Planning & Zoning Commission for 11 years, eventually becoming its Chairman.
- Decision to Attend Law School: Her husband encouraged her to pursue law school. She took the LSAT and applied to the University of Connecticut School of Law, and was accepted.
- UConn Law School: She started law school in 1982. The class was about half female, with many women over thirty. She formed a small support group called "Sua Sponte".
- Discrimination: She observed discrimination during job interviews, with many jobs going to younger men despite their grades not being as good as older female students.
- Early Law Firm Experience: She worked at Danaher, O'Connell, Attmore, Tedford, & Flaherty during her second summer of law school and received a permanent job offer after graduation. She practiced general civil litigation, trust and estates, real estate, wills, and divorces. The firm broke apart after two years.
- Attorney General's Office: She joined the Attorney General's Office accepting a role in child abuse and education litigation. She worked there for four years.
- Pepe & Hazard and Environmental Law: She joined Pepe & Hazard as a land use lawyer focusing on Planning & Zoning Commission.
- Notable Cases: Notable cases include a hazardous waste situation involving Raymark in Stratford, Connecticut, where she successfully impleaded numerous homeowners and entities.
- LeBouef, Lamb, Greene, & MacRae: She eventually moved to LeBouef, Lamb, Greene, & MacRae, an international firm, which had thousands of attorneys and offices worldwide. In this role, she primarily handled Superfund and toxic tort cases for Alcoa, litigating across the country.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Diane Whitney grew up on the North Shore of Long Island in Port Jefferson. Her father owned a men's clothing store, and her mother was a stay-at-home. She did not know any attorneys or women in professional careers while growing up, snice most women she knew were in traditional roles like nurses or teachers.
- Professional Aspirations: As a child, Diane wanted to be a physical therapist.
- College Education: She attended William Smith College in Geneva, New York, and graduated in 1967, majoring in English. After college, she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Colgate.
- Early Teaching Career: Diane taught for half a year in Ilion, New York, and then moved to Connecticut after getting married, where she taught at the Oxford School in Hartford. Her teaching career ended for a while after she had two sons.
- Community Involvement: She became involved in community activities in Windsor, serving on the Planning & Zoning Commission for 11 years, eventually becoming its Chairman.
- Decision to Attend Law School: Her husband encouraged her to pursue law school. She took the LSAT and applied to the University of Connecticut School of Law, and was accepted.
- UConn Law School: She started law school in 1982. The class was about half female, with many women over thirty. She formed a small support group called "Sua Sponte".
- Discrimination: She observed discrimination during job interviews, with many jobs going to younger men despite their grades not being as good as older female students.
- Early Law Firm Experience: She worked at Danaher, O'Connell, Attmore, Tedford, & Flaherty during her second summer of law school and received a permanent job offer after graduation. She practiced general civil litigation, trust and estates, real estate, wills, and divorces. The firm broke apart after two years.
- Attorney General's Office: She joined the Attorney General's Office accepting a role in child abuse and education litigation. She worked there for four years.
- Pepe & Hazard and Environmental Law: She joined Pepe & Hazard as a land use lawyer focusing on Planning & Zoning Commission.
- Notable Cases: Notable cases include a hazardous waste situation involving Raymark in Stratford, Connecticut, where she successfully impleaded numerous homeowners and entities.
- LeBouef, Lamb, Greene, & MacRae: She eventually moved to LeBouef, Lamb, Greene, & MacRae, an international firm, which had thousands of attorneys and offices worldwide. In this role, she primarily handled Superfund and toxic tort cases for Alcoa, litigating across the country.
Object number2024.38.39a-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
- New York (N.Y.)
- Gender roles
- Nurses
- Teachers
- Teaching
- Hartford (Conn.)
- Windsor (Conn.)
- Law schools
- University of Connecticut
- Discrimination
- Divorce
- Environmental protection and preservation
- Stratford (Conn.)
- Raymark Industries, Inc. Superfund Site (Raybestos) (Stratford, Conn.)
- Family
- Education
- Children
- Planning and zoning commissions
- Land conservation
- Landscapes
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
On View
Not on view