March 04, 2013
The year is 1942: America is embroiled in World War
II, Joe DiMaggio is leading his Yankees to another World Series
title and Casablanca has just made its big-screen debut.
Meanwhile, Josephine Ferro Cuccia ’42UC, ’45L – an ambitious
young woman in New York – has just enrolled at St. John’s
School of Law, and she’s about to make history of her
own.
“Those certainly were different times,” recalls Cuccia, who is
today a proud great grandmother, turning 90 this April. “My
grandfather came to this country as an orphaned, 14-year-old
Italian immigrant – can you imagine that? They just dropped him off
at Delancey Street, and that was that. Years later, he’d always
tell me: ‘You are going to go to school!’ And so I did.”
Cuccia didn’t just go to school – she blazed a trail for all future
St. John’s alumnae, becoming one of only three women in the School
of Law’s 1945 graduating class. And she’s quick to point out that
she never felt intimidated during her college years.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “I was the queen of the ball –
everyone at St. John’s treated me with respect. And on the day of
my graduation, my grandfather was there with a big smile across his
face. I don’t think I ever saw him happier.”
Landing a job at a law firm, though, was no easy task for a woman
in the 1940s, as Cuccia encountered more than a few employers who
doubted her abilities because of her gender. Ultimately, it took
another strong-willed female – Cuccia’s mother – to finally get her
hired.
“My mother took me up to a huge office building in the Bronx,”
Cuccia explained, “literally filled with all different law firms. I
explained that I was looking for a job, and every firm replied,
‘Sorry, we’re not hiring secretaries.’”
Her mother wouldn’t accept that as an answer.
“Oh, my mother was livid,” Cuccia continued. “She shot back at
them, ‘My daughter is applying to be a lawyer!’ And, eventually,
one of the firms took a chance on me.”
Sure, she only earned $3 a week back then, but Cuccia was glad to
be gaining valuable experience in the courtroom. At the time, St.
John’s – like most law schools across the country – primarily
taught substantive law, not court procedure, so Cuccia quickly had
to learn the intricacies of trial procedure through on-the-job
training.
“Colleagues and other individuals in the courtroom were very
willing to help me out,” she recalled. “I guess you could say I
sort of figured it out as I went, but I think things turned out
pretty good.”
“Pretty good” is an understatement. After marrying Joseph Cuccia in
1949, she created the law firm of Ferro and Cuccia, serving her
clients as a private-practice attorney for more than six decades.
She is admitted to practice in a number of state and federal
courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Through it all, she’s remained supportive of St. John’s, giving
back through
The Loughlin Society and keeping the future of the University
in mind as a member of The
McCallen Society.
“If it hadn’t been for St. John’s, I wouldn’t be where I am today –
it’s as simple as that,” she said. “If I hadn’t decided to get my
Law degree, I wouldn’t have the life I have now, surrounded by a
wonderful and beautiful family.”
And the fact that she paved the way for other alumnae – achieving
remarkable success as a female when doing so was no easy feat – is
an exceptionally rewarding feeling.
“It’s wonderful to know I’ve had an impact,” Cuccia said. “To
help set the stage for the women who came after me is, quite
simply, a very special feeling.”