Vivian V. Simpson (1903 – 1987): From “a young woman not readily submissive to rules and regulations,”[1] to preeminent lawyer, bar president, and first female secretary of state for Maryland.
Early experiences with the judicial system are often formative and a catalyst for pursuing the practice of law and public service. In honor of Women’s History Month, this post will feature one such person – Vivian V. Simpson.
Born in Washington, D.C. in 1903, Vivian Simpson did not grow up in a family of lawyers. Her father was a grocer and her mother was a homemaker.[2] In 1921, she enrolled at the University of Maryland in College Park, as part of the sixth class to include women.[3] But she challenged the campus rules for female students, including a “lights out” curfew and smoking prohibition, neither of which applied to male students. She was reprimanded for using a curling iron and keeping her lights on late at night, the latter of which she explained was necessary to study “in order to be able to compete with the men students on the campus.”[4] During her second year, the Washington Post released affidavits of unnamed female students, detailing the university official’s inappropriate behavior towards female “co-eds.” When the student body voted to condemn the newspaper article and expel the affiants, Simpson and another student refused to support the resolution or respond to the University’s request that they admit to authoring the affidavits. As a result, the University denied their admission to their third year and encouraged Simpson to transfer to another school.[5]
In the Baltimore City Court, Simpson filed a petition for writ of mandamus against University President Dr. Albert F. Woods and challenged that her refusal to respond to the inquiry about the affidavit was a single incident that could not justify the denial of her continued admission. While the trial judge agreed and granted the writ, the Court of Appeals reversed, reasoning that it need not address the affidavit issue, because the record established that Simpson “was a young woman not readily submissive to rules and regulations,” and that the University acted within its discretion to deny her admission due to her prior rule violations.[6]
Simpson transferred to George Washington University to complete her undergraduate studies and went on to attend the George Washington School of Law, where she graduated Order of the Coif in 1927. She never learned to type, in order to avoid being limited to work as a stenographer.[7]
In 1928, she became the fortieth woman to be admitted to the Maryland Bar,[8] opened her own law practice in Rockville, and became the first woman to practice in Montgomery County.[9] Her brother Joseph Simpson joined her in the practice of law in 1934, and the firm became known as Simpson & Simpson, “one of the most highly respected law firms in the state of Maryland.”[10] In the course of her storied, 53-year career, her name appears as a counsel of record in more than sixty (60) cases before the Maryland appellate courts. She was the first female attorney to represent the Board of County Commissioners for Montgomery County (1938), the first woman elected president of the Bar Association of Montgomery County (1949), the first woman appointed to the Worker’s Compensation Commission (then known as the State Industrial Accident Commission, 1940-1947) and later secretary of state (1949).
In reflecting on her career, Simpson credited her case against the University of Maryland: “It was the best thing that ever happened to me. . . . It prepared me to practice law. It toughened me. Before that, I was as innocent as a babe in arms.”[11]
[1] Woods v. Simpson, 146 Md. 547 (1924).
[2] “Vivian V. Simpson (1903-1987),” Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series), https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013400/013450/html/13450extbio.html (last accessed on Mar. 18, 2024).
[3] Id.
[4] Woods v. Simpson, Oct. Term 1924 No. 48, Transcript of Record from the Baltimore City Court, at 34, available at https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013400/013450/briefs/html/sc5458_000051_000538-0082.html.
[5] “Vivian V. Simpson (1903-1987),” supra note 2.
[6] Woods v. Simpson, 146 Md. 547 (1924).
[7] “Vivian V. Simpson (1903-1987),” supra note 2.
[8] Finding Justice: A History of Women Lawyers in Maryland since 1642 (Hon. Lynne A. Battaglia ed., 2015), 173.
[9] “Vivian V. Simpson (1903-1987),” supra note 2.
[10] “Vivian V. Simpson,” Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/womenshallfame/html/simpson.html.
[11]“Vivian V. Simpson,” Montgomery County Commission for Women, https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/cfw/resources/files/biosimpson.pdf.
Maryland Appellate Blog 
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Joe Tetrault