Linda Nellene Coffee (born 1942) is an attorney living in Dallas, Texas. Coffee is best known for representing (along with her friend and co-counsel Sarah Weddington) Norma McCorvey (a.k.a. Jane Roe), a pregnant woman who desired an abortion, in the precedent-setting United States Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, in which many laws restricting abortion access were invalidated.
Coffee obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree in February 1968, from the University of Texas, and was licensed to practice in Texas in May of that year.
Coffee was a frequent speaker on women's rights in Dallas; McCorvey approached her and asked for representation to challenge laws limiting access to abortion.
"Roe", whose real name is Norma McCorvey, now states she became the "pawn" of two young and ambitious lawyers (Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee) who were looking for a plaintiff whom they could use to challenge the Texas state law prohibiting abortion.
Coffee was a member of the Women's Equity Action League, an organization working toward equal employment opportunities for women. She and Weddington agreed to take the case; as the petitioners, they challenged abortion law and won, thus invalidating several laws limiting access to abortions.