Shirah Neiman,  who in 1970 cracked open the glass ceiling at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, becoming the first woman in decades to be hired into its criminal division, died on Jan. 4 in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She was 81.

Ms. Neiman first applied for a job with the Southern District in 1969. Of the 50 lawyers in the criminal division at the time, not one was a woman. During the interview process, she faced a barrage of sexist questions about her ability to work with her male counterparts and whether juries would listen to a female prosecutor. In spite of grumblings from some, she thrived in her new job, becoming the office’s expert on criminal tax law and taking the lead on several high-profile white-collar cases, eventually climbing to the deputy position under Mary Jo White, the U.S. attorney from 1993 to 2002.

“She just cared about the law,” said Jane Booth, a former head of the Southern District’s civil division, “and she knew how to get it right.”