An Interview with the First Black Woman Appointed to the Seventh Circuit

As Judge Ann Claire Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit made her way up in the federal judiciary, she couldn’t turn to anyone who looked like her for advice. As the first-ever black woman appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and later the first African-American to serve on the Seventh Circuit, Williams was left to pave her own path.

But at the recent National Summit of Black Women Lawyers in Chicago, Judge Williams made it clear that young women of color entering the legal field today can draw on ...