Lisa Aversa Richette was an American lawyer and a judge at the Court of Common Pleas in the city of Philadelphia. Richette was a proud alumna of Girls’ High School and the University of Pennsylvania, she was also one of first women to graduate from Yale Law School in 1952 with honors. She later taught law at various universities such as Yale, Villanova, Temple and St. Joseph's. Born in 1928, Richette grew up in the tough streets of South Philadelphia. Renowned for her frankness, she was a social activist peculiarly in the areas of child welfare, juvenile justice and homelessness. As a young girl during the Great Depression, Richette saw countless of desperate people surge into hers father's real estate office for financial help. That experience …show more content…
Regardless of her hardships Richette’s greatest challenge was her own son. Her son was charged on multiple assaults and he even assaulted Richette and his behavior escalated quickly when he exposed himself to a tv reporter. Throughout a long and radiant career, Richette was an unprecedented role model who clambered to the bench in an era when female judges were scarce. In her 36 years as a judge, she was known not only for her outspokenness and vivid opinions but for her humanity for victims of society's cruelness, whether they were neglected children, battered women, or men who had suffered troubled boyhoods she treated them with care and sympathy. One of Richette’s last acts on the bench before her untimely demise was saving an infant from a Frankfort crack house. Richette spent her whole life making sure that the oppressed and less fortunate were given a fair chance at happiness. She was a feminist and shouted women's rights. She was outspoken and she stepped to the beat of her own drums. Richette did not take orders from anyone and she stepped up to challenges even when all odds were against