Edna Shalala was the first woman of Syrian-Lebanese descent to practice law in Cleveland. She was a nationally-ranked tennis player in the 1930s and ‘40s who competed on the senior circuit into her 80s, a teacher who pioneered in creating the first physical education program for disabled children, and a mother raising twin daughters when she graduated from Cleveland-Marshall in 1952. Downtown law firms were not hiring women at the time, so she established a small but successful probate practice on Cleveland’s west side. She obtained an LLM degree in 1960 and later partnered with her niece Susan Batal (1983), specializing in estate and probate law. She practiced law for over 50 years—until the age of 90—and was inducted into the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. She also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Cleveland-Marshall in 2011.