Legal Career

Despite the extraordinarily heavy workload, Shirley loved teaching and practicing law so much, she continued to do both for 10 years.

In 1966 the University of Wisconsin Law School named Shirley and her friend Margo Melli its first two female full professors. Shirley also continued to work at the LaFollette firm.

Shirley helped write Madison’s fair-housing ordinance—the first fair-housing law in Wisconsin.

While at LaFollette, Shirley headed the Madison office of the Wisconsin Civil Liberties Union. She also served on the Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights

In 1965 Shirley and Assistant Attorney General Betty Brown became the first two women to oppose each other in an oral argument before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

In 1964 Shirley and Seymour had a son and named him Daniel Nathan. His initials reflected Seymour’s work as a geneticist.

After she began practicing law, Shirley and Seymour bought their first home in Madison. They also got two Irish Setters: Briscoe and Betsy-B.

At the LaFollette firm, Shirley ultimately decides to focus her practice on tax law. She went on to teach tax law at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

When Shirley joined the LaFollette firm, she decided to try several areas of law, including trial and appellate litigation. She also argued two cases in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

When the law firm LaFollette, Sinykin, Doyle & Anderson hired Shirley as a lawyer in 1962, the Wisconsin State Journal ran a big story hailing her as “the epitome of a modern career woman.”