Interview with Norma Boster Adams, September 9, 1995

Interview Summary

Norma Boster Adams was born in Providence in Webster County, Kentucky. She attended Western State Teachers College between 1948 and 1950 and then enrolled in the University of Kentucky Law School. Adams states that she had no burning desire to practice law, but that she liked what she had heard about legal education. She explains her decision to go into a non-traditional field for women and states that she does not remember any barriers or roadblocks to her admission to law school. She recalls law school orientation and the affect of the Korean War on her class sizes. Adams states that there were a total of four female law students when she started law school, many of whom became successful lawyers.

Adams describes her classes, and explains that she was invited to become the first female student to work on the Kentucky Law Journal. She mentions some influential law professors like Paul Oberst who she feels helped to broaden the thinking of law students. She mentions that she did not particularly like Roy Moreland who was unkind to the female students. She discusses the culture of the law school and social activities.

Adams recalls that when she was getting close to graduation she was encouraged to look for jobs other than those which would require her to practice law. She had married during her third year of law school, and since her husband was in the air force, she moved to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio after graduation. Adams and her husband moved later to Somerset, Kentucky where he began a law practice, and she took a job as a bookkeeper for the county schools. The Adams' started their family in Somerset, eventually having four children. She began her law career by helping farmers file their tax returns. She describes the difficulty of being a mother and having a career.

Adams' first court room work consisted of filing motions. She describes how some judges treated her differently. Within a short period of time she became president of the local bar association, and she became involved in the state bar association. She served on the ethics committee of the state bar association in the mid-1970s. Adams describes the camaraderie among some female lawyers in Kentucky, and she mentions problems within the legal profession in the mid-1990s. Adams ran for the Kentucky Supreme Court in the 1980s but did not win. She describes the campaign and her other involvements with the Republican Party in Kentucky. Adams also became involved in education reform in Kentucky and discusses her participation in Leadership Kentucky.

Interview LC Subject

Adams, Norma Boster Adams, Norma Boster--Interviews University of Kentucky University of Kentucky--History

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