Opening the Door: When Women Couldn't Be Police Officers

In 1981, a federal district court approved CLIPI's settlement ending an eight-year class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department for sex and race discrimination.

The Blake consent decree included the largest back pay award negotiated at that time in an employment discrimination case in California. The decree also set a 25% goal for hiring qualified women officers—a dramatic increase from the barely 2% who comprised LAPD's workforce when we filed the case.

Similar goals for minority hiring and promotions were included. Over 600 pleadings, motions, briefs, and legal documents were filed during the complex litigation. More than 50 depositions were taken. The trial court proceedings were appealed to the Ninth Circuit three times.

But the numbers tell only part of the story.

When we filed Blake, women officers were essentially sidelined to handle domestic violence cases and juvenile matters. The LAPD didn't believe women could do "real" police work.

This wasn't unique to Los Angeles—it reflected institutional discrimination across law enforcement nationwide.

The settlement changed recruitment practices, testing procedures, and assignment policies. It opened pathways for women to serve in all aspects of law enforcement.

The Blake litigation demonstrated that civil rights law could address systemic barriers in powerful institutions. It established precedents that influenced employment discrimination litigation across California and beyond.

The case files now preserved at UCLA Library Special Collections document how change happens—not through a single court decision, but through sustained legal pressure, careful documentation, coalition building, and willingness to challenge entrenched practices.

When John Phillips observed at the UCLA event that O'Melveny & Myers had 109 all-white-male lawyers when we started there in 1969, he was describing the legal profession itself. Blake was part of changing that reality.