Interview with Judge Elaine Gordon
IntervieweeInterview with
Elaine Gordon
American
InterviewerInterviewed by
Kathryn Calibey
Date2016 December 8
DimensionsDuration: 9 Minutes, 12 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Judge Elaine Gordon who was interviewed by Kathryn Calibey on December 8, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Background : Judge Gordon was born in Chicago, her mother immigrated from Poland in 1939, and her father worked in the scrap metal business at Standard Industrial Salvage. She grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.
- College Education: Judge Gordon attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from 1967 to 1971. She majored in journalism and also had a political science major. Her college years were marked by significant political and social upheaval, including the 1968 election, riots in Chicago, the Democratic National Convention, Kent State shootings, student demonstrations, and the women's movement, which further influenced her desire to pursue law.
- Law School: She started law school at DePaul in Chicago in 1972. She transferred to the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1973 to join her fiancé, who was accepted at Yale. She graduated in December 1975 and passed the bar in 1976.
- First Legal Job: Her first legal job was with Legal Aid in New Britain, Connecticut in 1976. She began by doing divorce work. Later, she transferred to New Haven Legal Assistance and worked in housing law until 1984.
- Transition to Private Practice: In 1984, Judge Gordon entered private practice, an opportunity that arose after her success in Dukes v. Durante (1984). She went into family law. She started solo and later joined a prominent family lawyer as a partner.
- Becoming a Judge and Judicial Career: Judge Gordon was appointed to the bench in June 1988. Her first assignment was in Waterbury's criminal court. She served as a judge for 23 years, sitting in criminal, family, and civil courts. She held several leadership positions, including on the Civil Task Force, Family Task Force, Law Clerk Task Force, and headed Judicial Education, and became an administrative judge.
- Changes in the Legal Profession During Her Tenure as Judge: She noted significant changes in the practice of law, including technology, which changed how legal work was done, leading to faster responses and increased anxiety, and a perceived deterioration in collegial communication.
- Retirement from the Bench: Judge Gordon retired from the Judicial Branch in August 2011. She decided to start her own alternative dispute resolution business, Gordon ADR, with her husband Peter Curley.
Topics Discussed:
- Background : Judge Gordon was born in Chicago, her mother immigrated from Poland in 1939, and her father worked in the scrap metal business at Standard Industrial Salvage. She grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood.
- College Education: Judge Gordon attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from 1967 to 1971. She majored in journalism and also had a political science major. Her college years were marked by significant political and social upheaval, including the 1968 election, riots in Chicago, the Democratic National Convention, Kent State shootings, student demonstrations, and the women's movement, which further influenced her desire to pursue law.
- Law School: She started law school at DePaul in Chicago in 1972. She transferred to the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1973 to join her fiancé, who was accepted at Yale. She graduated in December 1975 and passed the bar in 1976.
- First Legal Job: Her first legal job was with Legal Aid in New Britain, Connecticut in 1976. She began by doing divorce work. Later, she transferred to New Haven Legal Assistance and worked in housing law until 1984.
- Transition to Private Practice: In 1984, Judge Gordon entered private practice, an opportunity that arose after her success in Dukes v. Durante (1984). She went into family law. She started solo and later joined a prominent family lawyer as a partner.
- Becoming a Judge and Judicial Career: Judge Gordon was appointed to the bench in June 1988. Her first assignment was in Waterbury's criminal court. She served as a judge for 23 years, sitting in criminal, family, and civil courts. She held several leadership positions, including on the Civil Task Force, Family Task Force, Law Clerk Task Force, and headed Judicial Education, and became an administrative judge.
- Changes in the Legal Profession During Her Tenure as Judge: She noted significant changes in the practice of law, including technology, which changed how legal work was done, leading to faster responses and increased anxiety, and a perceived deterioration in collegial communication.
- Retirement from the Bench: Judge Gordon retired from the Judicial Branch in August 2011. She decided to start her own alternative dispute resolution business, Gordon ADR, with her husband Peter Curley.
Object number2024.38.49a-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
- Chicago (Ill.)
- Jewish people
- Elections
- Protest movements
- Democratic National Convention (1980: New York, N.Y.)
- Shootings
- Women's rights
- University of Connecticut
- Yale University
- Law schools
- New Haven (Conn.)
- New Britain (Conn.)
- Waterbury (Conn.)
- Technology
- Education
- Family
- New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. (NHLAA)
- Connecticut Legal Services (CLS)
- Housing courts
- Divorce
- Law firms
- Judges
- Retirement
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
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