Interview with Judge Janet Hall
IntervieweeInterview with
Janet C. Hall
American, born 1948
InterviewerInterviewed by
Patricia Walsh
American
Date2016 December 21
DimensionsDuration: 9 Minutes, 2 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Judge Janet Hall who was interviewed by Trish Walsh on December 21, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Judge Hall was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her father was a successful lawyer, while her highly educated mother, a teacher, had to retire upon marriage due to Depression-era norms.
- Siblings and Mother's Influence on Career Path: Judge Hall's two older brothers became lawyers. Judge Hall attributes her career aspirations largely to her mother who strongly encouraged her daughters to pursue any desired profession. Her father, however, initially held a negative view of women in law.
- College: Judge Hall attended Mount Holyoke College from 1966 to 1970. Her father passed away suddenly in September 1966, just before she started college. While initially a science major, she became actively involved in student government during her junior year, influenced by the Vietnam War and women's rights movements. She was elected Student Government President in her senior year.
- Law School: Judge Hall was accepted into multiple law schools. She received a full Root-Tilden Fellowship from NYU.
- Early Legal Career: After law school, Judge Hall studied for the bar in Lowell. She then began her legal career at Hale and Dorr in Boston, a large firm. She was among the first three women lawyers at the firm.
- Transition to Department of Justice: Judge Hall spent four years at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., but she and her husband moved to Connecticut and she joined Robinson & Cole in January 1980, drawn by its strong litigation department.
- Cases: A significant case she handled was the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse case. The trial, lasting eight months, was one of the longest in Connecticut history and involved eight defense teams.
- Judicial Appointment Process : Her active participation in Bar Association activities, particularly the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, helped her gain recognition among legal peers, which was instrumental in her recommendation to President Clinton for a federal judgeship.
- Experience as a Judge: Judge Hall notes the significant volume of daily paperwork for judges and the need to manage a heavy docket.
- Judicial Philosophy : Judge Hall has a firm belief in the rule of law, and she stresses the importance of judges remaining open-minded.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Judge Hall was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her father was a successful lawyer, while her highly educated mother, a teacher, had to retire upon marriage due to Depression-era norms.
- Siblings and Mother's Influence on Career Path: Judge Hall's two older brothers became lawyers. Judge Hall attributes her career aspirations largely to her mother who strongly encouraged her daughters to pursue any desired profession. Her father, however, initially held a negative view of women in law.
- College: Judge Hall attended Mount Holyoke College from 1966 to 1970. Her father passed away suddenly in September 1966, just before she started college. While initially a science major, she became actively involved in student government during her junior year, influenced by the Vietnam War and women's rights movements. She was elected Student Government President in her senior year.
- Law School: Judge Hall was accepted into multiple law schools. She received a full Root-Tilden Fellowship from NYU.
- Early Legal Career: After law school, Judge Hall studied for the bar in Lowell. She then began her legal career at Hale and Dorr in Boston, a large firm. She was among the first three women lawyers at the firm.
- Transition to Department of Justice: Judge Hall spent four years at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., but she and her husband moved to Connecticut and she joined Robinson & Cole in January 1980, drawn by its strong litigation department.
- Cases: A significant case she handled was the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse case. The trial, lasting eight months, was one of the longest in Connecticut history and involved eight defense teams.
- Judicial Appointment Process : Her active participation in Bar Association activities, particularly the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association, helped her gain recognition among legal peers, which was instrumental in her recommendation to President Clinton for a federal judgeship.
- Experience as a Judge: Judge Hall notes the significant volume of daily paperwork for judges and the need to manage a heavy docket.
- Judicial Philosophy : Judge Hall has a firm belief in the rule of law, and she stresses the importance of judges remaining open-minded.
Object number2024.38.55a-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
- Massachusetts
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Women's rights
- Law schools
- Boston (Mass.)
- Washington (D.C.)
- Hartford Civic Center (Hartford, Conn.)
- Clinton, Bill, 1946-
- Family
- Education
- Gender roles
- Law firms
- Robinson & Cole LLP
- Judges
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
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