# List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Arizona

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Arizona. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

## Firsts in Arizona's history
### Lawyers

* First Hispanic American male: Joseph C. Padilla (1936)
* First Asian American male: Wing F. Ong (1943):
* First African American male: Hayzel Burton Daniels (1948)
* First Native American (Pascua Yaqui Tribe) male: Lawrence Huerta (1953)
* First Native American (Gila River Indian Community) male: Rodney B. Lewis (1972)
* First undocumented male: Daniel Rodriguez in 2014

### State judges

* First Jewish American male: Charles C. Bernstein (1929) in 1946
* First Mexican American male (Superior Court of Arizona): Raúl Héctor Castro (1949) in 1959
* First Jewish American male (Supreme Court of Arizona; Chief Justice): Charles C. Bernstein (1929) in 1962
* First Asian American male (superior court): Thomas Tang in 1962
* First African American male: Hayzel Burton Daniels (1948) in 1965
* First Hispanic American male (Arizona Appeals Court): Joe W. Contreras in 1979
* First African American male (Arizona Appeals Court): Cecil B. Patterson Jr. (1971) in 1985
* First Latino American male (Supreme Court of Arizona): John Lopez IV (1998): First Latino American male to serve on (2016)

### Federal judges

* First Asian American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Arizona): Thomas Tang (1950) in 1977
* First Hispanic American male (U.S. District Court): Valdemar Aguirre Cordova (1950) in 1979
* First African American male (Chief Judge; U.S. District Court): Raner Collins (1975) in 2013
* First Asian American male (Article III judge; U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona): Sharad H. Desai in 2024

### Attorney General of Arizona

* First African American male (work for Attorney General): Cecil B. Patterson Jr. (1971)
* First Jewish American male: Tom Horne (1970) from 2011-2015

### Assistant Attorneys General

* First Hispanic American male: Albert García (1937)
* First African American male: Hayzel Burton Daniels (1948)

### County Attorney

* First Mexican American male: Raúl Héctor Castro (1949) from 1954-1959

### Political office

* First Mexican American male (Governor of Arizona): Raúl Héctor Castro (1949) from 1975-1977

### State Bar of Arizona

* First Asian American male (President): Thomas Tang in 1977
* First Latino American male (President): Ernest Calderón in 2002
* First African American male (President): Benjamin Taylor in 2023

## Firsts in local history

* Greg Garcia: Reputed to be the first Hispanic American male lawyer in Maricopa County, Arizona
* Cecil B. Patterson Jr. (1971): First African American male to serve on the Maricopa County Superior Court
* Kevin Kane: First openly LGBT male to serve on the Phoenix Municipal Court (2006)
* Raúl Héctor Castro (1949): First Mexican American male to serve on the Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona (1959)
* Harry Gin: First Chinese American male to serve on the Superior Court of Pima County, Arizona (1975)
* James Don: First Chinese American male to serve as the Pinal County Attorney and a Judge of the Pinal County Superior Court, Arizona