Legal Career

On July 17, 1962, Shirley was admitted to the Wisconsin bar and signed the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s roll of attorneys. At last, she could begin practicing law.

Shirley finished her doctorate on the history of Wisconsin’s dairy industry in 1962

Shirley studied with Willard Hurst, the founder of the modern field of American legal history, at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

When they arrived at the University of Wisconsin, Seymour did a year of postdoctoral work in the Zoology Department.

After Shirley graduated from law school, she and Seymour headed to the University of Wisconsin. There, she started her doctorate in American legal history.

Shirley graduated valedictorian of Indiana University’s law school class of 1956. The dean told her that the top Indianapolis law firms would not hire her as a lawyer because she was woman.

During law school, Shirley and Seymour lived in a small, one-room apartment with a Murphy bed that pulled out of the wall. Late at night Shirley and a classmate studied in the living area next to the Murphy bed where Seymour was sleeping.

During law school, Shirley was chosen to serve as articles and book review editor of the Indiana Law Journal. All of the other editors were men.

Seymour wanted to go to medical school, but he could not afford it. Instead, he went to graduate school at Indiana University to study with H.J. Muller, a Nobel Prize winner in radiation and genetics.

Immediately after her wedding, Shirley started law school at Indiana University where her husband Seymour was working on his Ph. D. There were only a few other women at the law school.