Herminia Tormes García
Herminia Tormes García (19 October 1891 – 7 November 1964) was a Puerto Rican lawyer and the first woman to practice the profession on the island. After earning the right to practice law in 1917, she became the first woman to bring a case before the Bostonian jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals in 1924. In 1926, she was appointed as the first woman to serve as a judge in Puerto Rico. Throughout her career, Tormes worked for women who were incarcerated or engaged in prostitution, advocating for their rights. In 1964, the Bar Association of Puerto Rico named a room after her at its offices in San Juan. Early life Herminia Tormes García was born on 19 October 1891 in Ponce in the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico to Ana Jacobina García Esclabón and Joaquín Tormes Carbo. Her father was of Spanish heritage and her mother was an Afro-Puerto Rican woman who had formerly been a slave. After graduating from high school in Ponce, Tormes earned a degree to teach English from the Normal School of the University of Puerto Rico. She first married Leopoldo Simón Lanausse y Belfrey, with whom she had a son Cárlos Servando