Part 1: Mary S. Coleman, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as its Chief Justice, talks about her early life in Texas, her family's move to Washington, D.C., her parents, her father's death, her high school years, meeting Oliver Wendall Holmes, dating, attending the University of Maryland and attending law school at George Washington University, where she was often the only female in her classes. She also talks about getting her law degree in 1939, marrying her husband a few days later, starting a job at the USDA, and later moving to her husband's hometown of Marshall, Michigan to support his bid for the Michigan Senate in 1948. Part 2: Mary S. Coleman, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as its Chief Justice, talks about her husband Creighton's campaign for the Michigan Senate in 1948, his legal practice, her life as a homemaker, her husband's law firm, and pursuing her own legal career in Michigan. Coleman also discusses dealing with sexism in the judicial system, the respectful way she was treated by judges, her interest in children's issues, foster care, juvenile court and social work, and how she eventually become a court referee and later, in 1960, a Probate Court judge. Coleman calls herself a "conservative" and then describes her support for the Equal Rights Amendment and other women's rights initiatives. She concludes by describing the working environment within the Court, its terrible reputation, the hostility between the justices, the divisions over workers compensation cases, the influence of unions, the Swainson scandal and its impact on the Court and her own role in deciding key cases. Part 3: Mary S. Coleman, the first woman elected to the Michigan Supreme Court and the first to serve as its Chief Justice, concludes her reminisces of her time on the Court. Coleman describes efforts to reorganize the lower court system to bring efficiency and clarity to the system, working with unions, Coleman Young, and others to influence legislation restructuring the courts and breaking with old systems of patronage and favor. Coleman also discusses fighting to get better pay for her court employees while she was a Probate judge, attempts to bring fairness and equity to pay levels across the state, the battle over reapportionment following the 1980 census, her resignation from the Court so that Governor William Milliken could appoint her replacement, various colleagues on the Court and the support from her family which she says she has enjoyed throughout her career.
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