SAN FRANCISCO — Joanne Garvey, a trailblazing attorney who shattered numerous glass ceilings over the course of a 50-year legal career, died Wednesday following a battle with cancer. She was 79.
Garvey was the first woman partner at a downtown San Francisco law firm, the first woman elected to the board of governors of the State Bar of California, and the first female president of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She was a tireless advocate of legal services for the poor who also helped nurture generations of younger attorneys, whether by helping organize California Women Lawyers or through less formal social gatherings at her own home.
