The sudden death of her partner Julius Robertson of a heart attack in November 1961 marked a turning point for Dovey Roundtree, who as an African American woman found herself a sole practitioner in a legal community still dominated by men.
In 1962, she broke another barrier with her nomination for membership to the all-white Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia by attorney Joyce Hens Green (later an Associate Judge on the US District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit).