New York's first female DA, Charlotte Smallwood-Cook, dies

1/30/13

Smallwood-Cook was elected as Wyoming County's district attorney in the late 1940s, at a time when women lawyers had very few role models.

Charlotte Smallwood-Cook, New York's first female district attorney, died Jan. 26 at Crossroads House in Batavia. She was 90 years old.

Smallwood-Cook was elected as Wyoming County's district attorney in the late 1940s, at a time when women lawyers had very few role models.

The Daily News of Wyoming County described her as "a woman of fierce intelligence and devotion to her clients and family."

Smallwood-Cook liked to avoid the spotlight, according to the newspaper, and wouldn't have liked being labeled as "a living legend," despite her pioneering legal career.

"About her impact, you'd have to put it into the context of her times, I'd have to say," Buffalo attorney Maryann Saccomando Freedman, the first female president of the New York State Bar Association told the Daily News. "Becoming the first female district attorney. in the State of New York was no easy task. Some people think because it was a small legal community, and a small county, it would have helped, but I don’t think so."

Saccomando Freedman compared Smallwood-Cook to Lillian E. Cowan, considered a role model for new law graduates entering the profession. Both were trailblazers in their profession and were admired and respected by colleagues.

Born in in Trumansburg, Tompkins County, Smallwood-Cook attended Cornell University, where she met her husband Ned, a native of Warsaw. Smallwood-Cook completed law school at Columbia University.

Smallwood-Cook was only 26 years old when she was elected as district attorney and reportedly led an innovative campaign. She went on to serve a three-year term and prosecuted the country's first capital murder case in more than four decades.

After her husband Ned's unexpected death, Smallwood-Cook decided not to seek re-election, focusing instead on her practice and her children. She retired last year after a career in law spanning 65 years.

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