• Frances Kyle

    Frances Kyle was one of the first women, along with Averil Deverell, to be admitted to the bar in Ireland on November 1st, 1921. They were among the first women [...]

  • Georgina Frost

    Georgina “Georgie” Frost was the first woman to hold public office in the UK and Ireland. Born on the 29th December 1879 in Sixmilebridge, County Clare, Georgie was one [...]

  • Constance Markievicz

    The ‘rebel Countess’ Constance Markievicz née Gore-Booth was an Irish revolutionary, founding member of the Irish Citizen Army, suffragette and the first woman elected to the British House of [...]

  • Margaret Kidd

    Margaret Kidd was the first female member of the Faculty of Advocates and remained the only female advocate in Scotland for over 25 years. She was also the first female [...]

  • Asma Jahangir: “You cannot have human rights in a society if you do not have women rights”

    Asma Jilani Jahangir was an eminent lawyer and activist, who fought for the rights of women, children and religious minorities in Pakistan and co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. [...]

  • Claire Palley, the U.K.’s first female Law Professor

    In 1970, Claire Palley became a Professor of Law at Queen’s University Belfast. When she did so, she was the first woman in the United Kingdom ever to be appointed [...]

  • Madge Easton Anderson

    © Mitchell Library, Glasgow Madge Easton Anderson was the first woman to be admitted to practise as a professional lawyer in the UK, when she qualified as a solicitor in [...]

  • Sybil Campbell

    Sybil Campbell was the first woman to be appointed to the professional judiciary full-time in Britain, when she became a stipendiary magistrate at Tower Bridge Magistrates' Court in 1945. She [...]

  • Theodora Llewelyn Davies

    Theodora Llewelyn Davies was the first female applicant to be admitted to the Inner Temple in 1920, and one of the earliest women to be called to the Bar on [...]

  • Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor

    Nancy Astor was the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, after she was elected MP for Plymouth Sutton in November 1919. Early life An American [...]

  • Mella Carroll

    Mella Carroll was the first female judge of the High Court in the Republic of Ireland. Born in 1934 in Dublin, her father Patrick Carroll was a founder member and [...]

  • Marjorie Powell

    Marjorie Powell is a forgotten name, buried in the history books, but she was, and remains, a very important woman. She was the first female student to join Lincoln’s Inn, [...]

  • Daw Phar Hmee – First Female Burmese Barrister

    Phar Hmee is remembered for being the first Burmese woman to become a barrister in 1926. Little is left in the records about Phar Hmee’s life. Born in 1902, she [...]

  • (c) Law Society Gazette

    Trailblazers in Legal Journalism: Mary Smith (1967-1979)

    Richard Barr, Law Society Council Member, remembers Mary Smith (1967 - 1979) a trailblazer in legal journalism. My late father David Barr and I (later) wrote for the Law Society [...]

  • #HelpfulMen: Lord Robert Cecil

    Lord Robert Cecil (born Edgar Algernon Robert Gasgoyne-Cecil), first Viscount of Chelwood, was born in Cavendish Square, London, on 14 September 1864, to the third Marquess of Salisbury, Robert Arthur [...]