One of the first women to ascend the highest ranks of Chicago's top law firms has died. Barbara Lundergan, who was the first female partner at Seyfarth Shaw, joined the firm in 1964 after achieving a first in law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She worked in the trust and estates department in the firm and became a partner in the seventies, retiring in 2004. She was one of the first women to succeed in a law firm alongside other female poineers such as Joan Hall at Jenner & Block and Jean Allard at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons).