Helen M. Cirese

Helen M. Cirese Endowed Scholarship

Helen Cirese was one of the leading jurists in Illinois. In addition to her practice, which included both civil and criminal law, she served from 1946 to 1961 as justice of the peace in Oak Park, Ill.

Miss Cirese entered the legal profession at a time when few women were lawyers, and throughout her career was aware of her role as a woman. She broke down barriers to women by holding a number of important offices and worked for the advancement of other women. Miss Cirese’s work on the status and legal rights of women helped lead to an Illinois State constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote.

Miss Helen Mathilde Cirese was born on Dec. 1, 1899 to an Italian immigrant family in Marion, Ind. While she was a child, the family moved to Oak Park, Ill. She graduated from Oak Park River Forest High School and enrolled in the legal curriculum at DePaul University in Chicago. While at DePaul, she served as an associate editor of the DePaul MINERVAL, was vice president of her class, and gave the salutatory address at her graduation in 1920. She became the youngest women to pass the Illinois Bar exam, 10 months before her 21st birthday. The following month, she opened a law practice on LaSalle Street in Chicago, handing both civil and criminal cases.

Although the majority of her cases dealt with civil law, Miss Cirese established a reputation as a criminal lawyer after successfully defending a woman accused of murder in 1926. In the late 1920s, she participated in a divorce clinic which pioneered recommending marital counseling for broken marriages. In 1930, she joined her brother Charles in a partnership (Cirese and Cirese), and in 1943 her brother Eugene joined the firm.

In 1945, Miss Cirese was elected justice of the peace and police magistrate in Oak Park, Ill., one of few to hold both positions at that time. She was re-elected in 1949, 1953 and 1957.

Miss Cirese became active in legal organizations early in her career. By 1930, she was elected president of the Women’s Bars Association of Illinois after having held several other offices in that organization. In the 1930s, she became the first woman to chair committees for the Chicago Bar Association, chairing the Committee for the Poor Prisoners in 1935 and the Criminal Law Committee in 1937. She was elected president of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) in 1939. Miss Cirese continued active involvement in the NAWL, editing the journal in 1942 and serving as its representative at the American Bar Associations Council of Delegates in 1944-45. In 1949, she was elected president of the West Suburban Bar Association, its first woman president. Her other legal affiliations included the Illinois, Chicago, American and Inter-American Bar associations, The Justinian Society of Advocates and Kappa Beta Pi legal sorority.

While active in legal organizations, Miss Cirese participated in a number of non-legal associations. During World War II, she participated in a speaker’s bureau and was a member of Citizens Defense Corps coordinating fund raising drives. At the same time, she managed to serve as president of the West Area Business and Professional Club during the period of 1941-44. She was also a member of the Illinois Club of Catholic Women, the Pilot Club and various athletic clubs. Her interest in immigrants led to her active participation in the Immigrants Protective League.

Miss Helen Cirese was engaged in the practice of law until the age of 82. She died on Oct. 10, 1983.