Interview with Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers
IntervieweeInterview with
Chase T. Rogers
American, born 1956
InterviewerInterviewed by
Alexandra D. DiPentima
American, born 1953
Date2016 November 29
DimensionsDuration: 9 Minutes, 5 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers who was interviewed by Judge Alexandra D. DiPentima on November 29, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Background: Chase T. Rogers grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her parents were both in the fashion business.
- Education: Rogers attended Roger Ludlowe High School in Fairfield. She chose to attend Stanford University in California to explore beyond Connecticut, graduating in 1979 with a political science major and an English literature minor. After college, she worked as a paralegal for a year before attending Boston University School of Law. She passed the bar exams in Connecticut and qualified for the bar in New York, Federal Court, Second Circuit, and the US Supreme Court.
- Early Legal Career: Rogers began her legal career at Cummings & Lockwood in 1983. She worked there until January 1998.
- Personal Life: Rogers met her husband in London in 1984 through a high school friend, and they married in 1985. He is now a partner at Robinson & Cole, also practicing law. They have two children. She became a partner at Cummings & Lockwood in 1991.
- Experiences as a Woman Attorney: Rogers never experienced problems with clients as a woman attorney. However, she did observe some judges being dismissive of women attorneys. She believes she benefited greatly from the women's movement. As a partner, she headed hiring and pro bono efforts, mentoring younger associates, particularly women.
- Judiciary and Trial Bench: She was appointed to the trial bench in January 1998 by Governor John Rowland. Her first assignment was the Geographical Area Court in Danbury. She also served on the Civil Docket in Waterbury and Stamford and the Regional Child Protection Docket.
- Appellate Court: She applied for the Appellate Court and was approved. She was placed on the Appellate Court in 2006.
- Appointment as Chief Justice of Connecticut Supreme Court: In April 2007, Governor M. Jodi Rell offered her the position of Chief Justice, making her the second woman Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
- Challenges and Accomplishments as Chief Justice: As Chief Justice she addressed the issue of sealed files and developed the branch's first five-year strategic plan.
Topics Discussed:
- Background: Chase T. Rogers grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her parents were both in the fashion business.
- Education: Rogers attended Roger Ludlowe High School in Fairfield. She chose to attend Stanford University in California to explore beyond Connecticut, graduating in 1979 with a political science major and an English literature minor. After college, she worked as a paralegal for a year before attending Boston University School of Law. She passed the bar exams in Connecticut and qualified for the bar in New York, Federal Court, Second Circuit, and the US Supreme Court.
- Early Legal Career: Rogers began her legal career at Cummings & Lockwood in 1983. She worked there until January 1998.
- Personal Life: Rogers met her husband in London in 1984 through a high school friend, and they married in 1985. He is now a partner at Robinson & Cole, also practicing law. They have two children. She became a partner at Cummings & Lockwood in 1991.
- Experiences as a Woman Attorney: Rogers never experienced problems with clients as a woman attorney. However, she did observe some judges being dismissive of women attorneys. She believes she benefited greatly from the women's movement. As a partner, she headed hiring and pro bono efforts, mentoring younger associates, particularly women.
- Judiciary and Trial Bench: She was appointed to the trial bench in January 1998 by Governor John Rowland. Her first assignment was the Geographical Area Court in Danbury. She also served on the Civil Docket in Waterbury and Stamford and the Regional Child Protection Docket.
- Appellate Court: She applied for the Appellate Court and was approved. She was placed on the Appellate Court in 2006.
- Appointment as Chief Justice of Connecticut Supreme Court: In April 2007, Governor M. Jodi Rell offered her the position of Chief Justice, making her the second woman Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
- Challenges and Accomplishments as Chief Justice: As Chief Justice she addressed the issue of sealed files and developed the branch's first five-year strategic plan.
Object number2024.38.48a-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
- Fairfield (Conn.)
- California
- Boston (Mass.)
- Law schools
- New York (N.Y.)
- Supreme Court justices
- Danbury (Conn.)
- Judges
- Chief justices
- Education
- Law firms
- Connecticut. Supreme Court.
- Discrimination
- Women's rights
- Mentorship
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
On View
Not on view