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Charlotte Hunter Arley Interviewee: Chronicler: Charlotte Hunter Arley Interviewed: 2000 Published: 2001 Interviewer: Victoria Ford UNOHP Catalog #188 Description In the year 1947 Reno’s population was a mere 25,000, yet it boasted a total of 175 attorneys, many serving the wealthy eastern divorce trade. In this era of dude-ranch divorcees, only two other women besides Charlotte Hunter were practicing lawyers, Felice Cohen and Margaret Bailey. Little did the young Massachusetts woman know that, while she concentrated on earning a living, she was also paving a path that women by the hundreds and thousands would follow in the future. Born in Springfi eld, Massachusetts, Charlotte Hunter Arley grew up with one brother and one sister in a Jewish family. She credits her father for her advanced education, for he wanted assurance that all of his children would be able to earn their own way in the world. It never occurred to the intelligent girl to do otherwise. Having graduated early from Classical High School in Springfi eld, she entered Northeastern University’s law school at the age of sixteen and fi nished when she was still too young to take the bar exams. She worked for the legal department of the Federal Land Bank while the Great Depression spread across the country in the 1930s. She also volunteered at the Legal Aid Society. Aft er being admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1935, she joined one of Boston’s top law fi rms—Tyler, Eames, Wright & Reynolds—but aft er experiencing the broken promises that were all too familiar to professional women at that time, she headed West to fi nd more opportunities. She stopped briefl y in Reno to visit her father, then continued her travels and fell in love with Yosemite National Park, staying to work in the gift shop before returning to Reno and starting her practice. In her oral history, Ms. Arley tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the famous “Petticoat Trial”—so named because it was the fi rst time in Reno’s history that two women attorneys were pitted against each other in a courtroom. It was also Ms. Arley’s fi rst experience with a jury trial. She comments on cases that were heard in the Nevada Supreme Court and set legal precedents still in use today. Motivated by fairness, she always served as the plaintiff ’s attorney and worked hard to present a strong case for each client. Ms. Arley also remembered the discrimination she experienced for being a female attorney and Jewish, discriminatory acts that took her by surprise but never daunted her determination or her independence. One highlight of her career came in 1949 when she represented Reno at the International Federation of Women Lawyers meeting, held in Rome, Italy. She served as secretary to the group that had representatives from forty-one countries. While in Europe, she took the opportunity to visit her brother Sam in Florence. Ms. Arley left Reno for fi ft een years with her husband Jacques Arley to live in Portland but returned following his early death in 1971. Once again, she was a woman on her own in a predominantly male profession, but this time the women’s liberation movement had changed the legal scene. More and more young women were passing the bar and practicing law without experiencing the notoriety of novelty that met Reno’s fi rst two women lawyers as they faced off during the Petticoat Trial. Th roughout, Ms. Arley’s oral history is sprinkled with names recognizable as the who’s who of Reno’s legal society from post-World War II to the current day. (Continued on next page.) Description (Continued) Perhaps the most revealing comment Ms. Arley made when refl ecting on her career came aft er pausing with surprise at a question. “If I had known I would be a role model . . . but I was just earning a living.” Oral history interviews were conducted with Charlotte Hunter Arley during the summer of 2000 as part of the Nevada Legal Oral History Project, a cooperative project among the Nevada Judicial Historical Society, the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, and the University of Nevada Oral History Program. C H A HARLOTTE UNTER RLEY Charlotte Hunter Arley C H A HARLOTTE UNTER RLEY From oral history interviews conducted by Victoria Ford Edited by Kathleen M. Coles University of Nevada Oral History Program Copyright 2001 University of Nevada Oral History Program Mail Stop 0324 Reno, Nevada 89557 [email protected] http://www.unr.edu/oralhistory Nevada Judicial Historical Society Carson City, Nevada 89701 Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society Pasadena, California 91105 All rights reserved. Published 2001. Printed in the United States of America Publication Staff : Director: R. T. King Assistant Director: Mary Larson Production Manager: Kathleen M. Coles Text Design: Linda Sommer Production Assistant: Kathryn Wright-Ross University of Nevada Oral History Program Use Policy All UNOHP interviews are copyrighted materials. Th ey may be downloaded and/or printed for personal reference and educational use, but not republished or sold. Under “fair use” standards, excerpts of up to 1000 words may be quoted for publication without UNOHP permission as long as the use is non-commercial and materials are properly cited. Th e citation should include the title of the work, the name of the person or people interviewed, the date of publication or production, and the fact that the work was published or produced by the University of Nevada Oral History Program (and collaborating institutions, when applicable). Requests for permission to quote for other publication, or to use any photos found within the transcripts, should be addressed to the UNOHP, Mail Stop 0324, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV 89557-0324. Original recordings of most UNOHP interviews are available for research purposes upon request. C ONTENTS Introduction ix Charlotte Hunter Arley 1 Index 131 I NTRODUCTION T HE YEAR WAS 1947. Reno’s population was a mere 25,000, yet it boasted a total of 175 attorneys, many serving the wealthy eastern divorce trade. In this era of dude-ranch divorcees, only two other women besides Charlotte Hunter were practicing lawyers, Felice Cohen and Margaret Bailey. Little did the young Massachusetts woman know that, while she concentrated on earning a living, she was also paving a path that women by the hundreds and thousands would follow in the future. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Charlotte grew up with one brother and one sister in a Jewish family. She credits her father for her advanced education, for he wanted assurance that all of his children would be able to earn their own way in the world. It never occurred to the intelligent girl to do otherwise. Having graduated early from Classical High School in Springfield, she entered Northeastern University’s law school at the age of sixteen and finished when she was still too young to take the bar x Introduction exams. She worked for the legal department of the Federal Land Bank while the Great Depression spread across the country in the 1930s. She also volunteered at the Legal Aid Society. After being admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1935, she joined one of Boston’s top law firms—Tyler, Eames, Wright & Reynolds—but after experiencing the broken promises that were all too familiar to professional women at that time, she headed West to find more opportunities. She stopped briefly in Reno to visit her father, then continued her travels and fell in love with Yosemite National Park, staying to work in the gift shop before returning to Reno and starting her practice. In her oral history, Charlotte tells the behind-the- scenes stories of the famous “Petticoat Trial”—so named because it was the first time in Reno’s history that two women attorneys were pitted against each other in a courtroom. It was also Charlotte’s first experience with a jury trial. She comments on cases that were heard in the Nevada Supreme Court and set legal precedents still in use today. Motivated by fairness, she always served as the plaintiff’s attorney and worked hard to present a strong case for each client. Charlotte also remembered the discrimination she experienced for being a female attorney and Jewish, discriminatory acts that took her by surprise but never daunted her determination or her independence. One highlight of her career came in 1949 when she represented Reno at the International Federation of Women Lawyers meeting, held in Rome, Italy. She served as secretary to the group that had representatives from forty-one countries. While in Europe, she took the opportunity to visit her brother Sam in Florence.