Lawsuits and Meet-Cutes
Two 1901 graduates from UW Law’s first class met in law school and became life partners as they pursued admirable legal careers.
The University of Washington School of Law students rigorously pursue their education and professional development, and in the intensity of that environment, strong bonds can form. Alumni look back at this time in their lives and realize it was when they met their best friend — sometimes even their spouse. This phenomenon has existed for 125 years, beginning with our first class in 1901.
Two of our first graduates — Walter Beals and Othilia Gertrude Carroll — became friends during law school and lived exceptionally productive lives together, contributing in quite different ways to the local, statewide and global communities.
Born in New Orleans, Carroll moved to Seattle as a child, where her father developed a law practice in the burgeoning town. Carroll was an ambitious youth, going on to study both law and music at the UW, and was one of two women in UW Law’s first graduating class. Fresh out of law school, she took a trip to New Orleans where she attended a women’s suffrage rally and was called to the stage by the legendary suffragette Susan B. Anthony. Carroll remained committed to women’s rights her entire life. Returning to Seattle, she entered practice with her father and brother; she also edited the Pacific Catholic Journal of Law. She resigned from practice when she married her close friend, and fellow UW Law graduate, Beals in 1904.
Beals hailed from St. Paul, Minnesota, with family roots going back to Roger Williams, the political and religious leader known for founding Rhode Island. At least one Rhode Island-based Supreme Court chief justice and a Minnesota-based chief justice were among his ancestors. He moved to Washington and attended UW Law, where he met Carroll. After law school, Beals practiced for a dozen years. He was a major in the Washington National Guard’s JAG Corps and was called to active duty in World War I.
Carroll’s brother, Major John E. Carroll, was likewise called to active duty, and she replaced her brother as Seattle’s justice of the peace. When that term expired, she ran for a full term and was overwhelmingly elected by Seattle voters. Carroll resigned that judgeship when her brother returned from the war. Active in civic affairs and charitable organizations, she was an energetic member of the Seattle Girl Scout Council (now Girl Scouts of Western Washington) and involved in both the American Legion Auxiliary and the Red Cross.
Beals returned to legal practice after World War I, and was elected as Seattle Corporation Counsel, serving from 1923 to 1926, when he was appointed to the King County Superior Court. Two years later he was elected to the Washington State Supreme Court, serving from 1928 to 1946, and again from 1947 to 1951. The reason for the short hiatus was his appointment as Chief Judge at Nuremburg Tribunal No. 1, which held the “doctors’ trials” of German physicians and administrators responsible for gruesome experiments on concentration camp inmates.
After living rich lives and careers boasting many achievements, Walter Beals died in 1960, and Othilia Carroll Beals in 1970. UW Law’s first couple has been remembered for their ambitions both as students and lawyers, receiving honorable recognition throughout their lifetimes together. Beals and Carroll are just one example of the many connections — and occasional love stories — that blossom here at the UW each year.