Call Number:

BLL.008

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library

Extent:

• 22.00 linear feet (26 boxes and 1 oversized folder of analog material and 0.51 megabytes of digital material )
• 0.51 megabytes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item], in the Judge Norma L. Shapiro Papers, BLL.008, Biddle Law Library, University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Date:

1957-2016 (inclusive)

Creator:

Shapiro, Norma L.

Abstract:

The Judge Norma L. Shapiro papers, 1957-2016, consist of material from Shapiro's time as a federal judge and her active involvement in legal organizations. Norma Levy Shapiro attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School (now known as the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School) from 1949 to 1951. In August 1978, President Jimmy Carter nominated Shapiro to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, making her the first female judge to serve in this district. Shapiro gained national recognition for several cases that she presided over, including Harris v. City of Philadelphia. The collection contains correspondence, case notes, speeches, and meeting minutes that document Shapiro's work on Harris v. City of Philadelphia, her service to the Eastern District Court, and her involvement in professional legal organizations.

Norma Sondra Levy Shapiro was born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1948 with a B.A. in political theory. Shapiro attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School (now known as University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School) from 1949 to 1951. She served as editor of the Penn Law Review and graduated magnum cum laude, Order of the Coif, and as the only woman in her class. During her time at law school, she also met and married Bernard Shapiro.

Norma Shapiro spent a year after graduation serving as a clerk for Judge Horace Stern of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Throughout the 1950s, she also taught several courses at the Penn Law School and served as a Gowen fellow in criminal law from 1954 to 1955 with a focus on juvenile court law.

Shapiro entered private practice in Philadelphia in 1956. She worked at Dechert, Price, and Rhoades until 1978 and became the firm's first woman partner in 1973. In August 1978, President Jimmy Carter nominated Shapiro to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Shapiro was the first woman to ever serve as a judge in this district.

Judge Shapiro gained national recognition for several cases that she presided over, including Harris v. City of Philadelphia. This was a 1982 lawsuit filed by prisoners against the city of Philadelphia, claiming that extreme overcrowding in the city's prisons violated their constitutional rights. Shapiro ruled on the side of the plaintiffs and set standards to reform Philadelphia prisons, including approving the construction of a new detention center and setting a maximum population level. The litigation for the case lasted around thirty years and Shapiro's decisions were met with controversy. She received both praise and significant backlash from citizens and the local press.

Shapiro also presided over Valez v. Cisneros, which ultimately resulted in her placing the Chester Housing Authority in receivership in 1993 to try to improve public housing conditions.

Throughout her life, Shapiro was active in many professional associations, including the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the National Association of Women Judges, and the Philadelphia Women's Law Project. In 1977, she became the first female member and first chairwoman of the Philadelphia Bar Association (PBA) Board of Governors. She also served as chair for the PBA's first committee on women's rights and, in 1993, Judge Shapiro became the first person awarded the PBA's Sandra Day O'Connor Award. The award was created to honor a Philadelphia lawyer devoted to mentoring and promoting other women in the profession.

After twenty years as a federal judge, Shapiro assumed senior status in 1998. She remained active on the bench until she passed away in July 2016 in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

The Judge Norma L. Shapiro papers, 1957-2016, consist of correspondence, case notes, speeches, and meeting minutes that document Shapiro's time as a federal judge and her work on Harris v. City of Philadelphia.

Series I: Biographical Materials, 1957-2013, contains correspondence regarding awards received by Shapiro as well as news clippings and articles about Shapiro's work in the legal profession. Also included is correspondence, transcripts, and submission materials from oral history projects that Shapiro participated in. Also included is a hard hat gifted to Shapiro in honor of her many visits to construction sites for her cases.

Series II: Harris v. City of Philadelphia, 1961-2005, consists of material collected by Shapiro on Harris v. City of Philadelphia and the thirty years of litigation surrounding the case. This includes copies of correspondence with the court appointed Special Master, William Babbock, correspondence with the City of Philadelphia, letters from the Prison Population Management Unit, letters sent from victim advocacy groups, and four folders of letters sent to Shapiro from prisoners in the Philadelphia prison system. A substanial amount of this is incoming correspondence, but there are two folders labeled "correspondence from Shapiro and court" which include letters Shapiro sent about the case.

Also included are motions, settlement agreements, and orders arranged in the order of the litigation's appellate history: Harris v. Pernsley, Harris v. Reeves, Harris v. Levine, and Harris v. City of Philadelphia. The series contains boxes of supporting research likely conducted by Shapiro's law clerks. These folders include photocopied articles related to other prison overcrowding cases, the prison master report from Jackson v. Hendrick, photocopies of relevant senate and house bills, and a list of federal judges in overcrowding cases. Also included are five folders of news clippings, primarily from Philadelphia newspapers, about the Philadelphia prison system, Shapiro's rulings on Harris, and the building of the new Criminal Justice Center.

Series III: Eastern District of Pennsylvania Court, 1976-2016, contains correspondence, press clippings, and court materials from Shapiro's time as a federal judge on the Eastern District Court. Included are letters on her appointment to the federal bench, a copy of her oath of office, and materials from the Third Circuit Task Force on Equal Treatment in the Courts. The series contains copies of Shapiro's memoranda and orders, arranged by date from 1985 to 2006. Also included are correspondence, photographs, and press clippings from the Chester Housing Authority case.

Series IV: Committees and Professional Organizations, 1968-2008, consists of minutes, correspondence, and collected resources from the professional organizations and committees that Shapiro served on. This includes meeting minutes from the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration, papers from the Philadelphia Women's Law Project, correspondence from the Philadelphia Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession, and minutes from the National Association of Women Judges Board of Directors as well as the group's task force on women in prison. The series also contains correspondence with the University of Pennsylvania Law School (now known as University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School) and presentations from the American Inn of Court. The first folder in the series consists of digital copies of speeches given by Shapiro at events or to professional organizations. Included are acceptance speeches for awards, portrait presentations, tributes, and speeches given to the American Bar Association, the University of Pennsylvania, and to the Jewish Publication Society.

The collection is arranged into the following series: Series I. Biographical Materials, 1957-2013; Series II. Harris v. City of Philadelphia, 1961-2005; Series III. Eastern District of Pennsylvania Court, 1976-2016; Series IV. Committees and Professional Organizations, 1968-2008.