THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 26 | SEPTEMBER 2024 Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff. Women in Law Kathryn Nedry Van Leuven KATHRYN NEDRY VAN LEUVEN WAS BORN FEB. 5, 1888, to John B. and Kathryn Rhyne Nedry in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where she received her primary and secondary education.1 She moved to Nowata in 1909, where she met her husband, Bert Van Leuven, neighboring Ottawa County’s first county judge.2 A product of six generations of lawyers on both sides of her family, it was only natural that she would be interested in the law.3 Although she never received a law degree, Ms. Van Leuven was tutored by her husband and father for six years and studied for 18 months at the University of Chicago4 prior to her admission to the bar in 1913 at the age of 25.5 Soon after she began practicing in 1914, Ms. Van Leuven became Nowata County’s first female prosecuting attorney when she was named assistant attorney from 1913 to 1915.6 In 1920, she became the first female assistant attorney general in the U.S. after being appointed to the office by Oklahoma Attorney General S. Price Freeling. Attorney General Freeling, a well-known women’s suffrage opponent, had hoped to appease his female critics with the appointment of Ms. Van Leuven,7 who held the position until 1926.8 During her tenure as assistant attorney general, Attorney General Freeling sent Ms. Van Leuven to Tulsa in response to a plea by a delegation of Tulsa women to Gov. Robertson about vice conditions in Tulsa. According to the women, conditions were so bad in their city that it was “unsafe for a woman to travel unescorted.”9 A. J. Biddison, a Tulsa attorney, believed sending Ms. Van Leuven to Tulsa was a political ploy intended to give her something to do. Of the decision to put Ms. Van Leuven on the case, Mr. Biddison stated that she could “do as little harm [in Tulsa] as she [could] anywhere else.”10 Some described the Tulsa assignment as the “most responsible assignment ever entrusted to an Oklahoma woman to that time.”11 Eventually, Ms. Van Leuven “was credited with breaking up the Tulsa vice ring and soon became Oklahoma’s bestknown female attorney.”12 During her six years in the Attorney General’s Office, she “was assigned to the Department of Labor where she made an enviable record.”13 Having served many challenging years in the public sector, Ms. Van Leuven decided to enter private practice in 1926 when she joined the Oklahoma City law firm of Blakeney & Ambrister. After her son, Kermit, graduated from law school, they formed a mother-son partnership, which was reported to be the first such legal partnership in the nation.14 Attempting to satisfy her political ambitions, Ms. Van Leuven entered the primary for the U.S. Senate in 1930 and finished seventh in a field of 10 Democratic candidates,15 an impressive finish for a woman in that era. In 1935, she became a special master to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma and was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court Commission in Oklahoma.16 Beginning in 1924, “Ms. Van Leuven’s efforts [became] focused on securing material realization of the program of the National Welfare Committee” when she served on the committee, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt.17 The committee compiled and coordinated information, suggesting federal legislation in areas of social security and public welfare. Their suggestions were based on years of work and study by the U.S. Department of Labor, the American Child Health Association, the American Federation of Labor, the National Council of
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