Alice N. Truman

University of Illinois Law,
class of 1944

State Bar of Arizona
member since 1954

(b. 1922, d. 2000) Judge Alice Truman was born December 24, 1922 in Waggoner, Illinois. She received her undergraduate degree in history in 1942 and earned her J.D. degree in 1944, both  from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. After practicing  law in Illinois and Colorado, Judge Truman moved to Tucson in 1953. She ran for Pima County Superior Court Judge in 1962, took office in 1963 and served for thirty years before retiring in 1993.

Judge Truman entered the field of law at a rather young age. She was one of the earliest women to seek actively a judicial office and has been an advocate all her life for more women in law. In the following interview, she reviews the past and present roles of Justices of the Peace and Superior Court Judges and some of her experiences attendant to those roles. Judge Truman comments on changes in the courts and the law in the last fifty years and of possible changes in the future. Judge Truman received the Arizona State Bar's highest award for outstanding work as a lawyer and a judge.