Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson, ’79

Judge on Guam’s Superior Court

Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson ’79 feels extremely lucky to have graduated from Santa Clara Law. Admitted after a minority student group put in a word on her behalf, Barrett-Anderson, who had a degree in political science from the University of San Francisco, worked hard to succeed—not only to fulfill her own dream, but also that of her mother.

At age 26, Barrett-Anderson’s mother, Concepcion Cruz, was "poster gorgeous," well educated, and a teacher. One day in 1939, a U.S. Army ship heading to the Philippines stopped on Guam. "In those days," says Barrett-Anderson, "the way for a GI to meet an island girl was to ask for her autograph. Dad asked. They married in 1940 and shortly thereafter my Dad was restationed to the Presidio in San Francisco." In 1960, while she was raising three children in San Francisco and Jack was working in the Philippines, Concepcion enrolled in law school at Hastings. She was one of only two women in her class and the only female minority. Leaving after two years because of the strain on her family, she eventually obtained her master’s degree in political science from the University of Ateneo de Manila, a Jesuit university. She became Guam’s first female senator and a "founding mother" of Guam’s Republican Party.

Barrett-Anderson returned to Guam after graduating from Santa Clara Law. She served as counsel for Guam’s board of education before entering private practice. She was appointed the island’s first female attorney general in 1987, a time when there was only one other female attorney general in the U.S. In 1994 she was elected to the legislature, where she served two terms. In 1997, she became a judge on Guam’s superior court.

Barrett-Anderson, mother of three grown children, credits the trailblazing of herself and her mother to their Chamorro heritage. "There was no way that the Spanish could kill off the matriarchy of the Chamorro," she says. "Women have been able to rise quickly in this community and government because people tend to trust women." Family support is also important. "My mother was very proud of me that I chose the law," says Barrett-Anderson. "It became her fulfillment." Barrett-Anderson’s husband, Daniel Anderson, has been her biggest supporter in her career. "It takes a strong Chamorro man to deal with a strong Chamorro woman," she says.

Guam’s government is only just over 50 years old. It has had a Supreme Court for less than a decade. And it still has no constitution—a dream that Barrett-Anderson hopes to help make a reality. As she and other SCU alumni work toward this and other dreams they have for Guam, she wonders if Santa Clara Law knows to what extent it has helped shape the territory.

"I am speechless at the commitment of SCU to Guam," she says. "I hope the university administration sees how it has impacted our legal and island community by producing leader after leader, and I hope they are proud of this tradition. No one stood at their doorstop and asked SCU to make this commitment. But they did. I am so proud to be among the progeny of SCU. It seems to be in God’s plan that the relationship between SCU and Guam carry on for decades ahead."