• Eliza Orme

    Eliza Orme (1848-1937) was the first woman in England to earn a law degree, in 1888 at University College London; she was 39 years old and already unofficially 'practicing' law [...]

  • Gertrude Tuckwell – London’s First Woman Magistrate

    On Christmas Eve 1919 the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act became law. On the same day the appointment of the first seven women to be justices of the peace (JPs) was [...]

  • Helena Normanton

    Born in 1882, Helena Normanton was the first woman to practice at the Bar (although not the first to be called to the Bar: that accolade went to Oxford [...]

  • Juliet Wheldon

    Not only was Juliet a fantastic lawyer, but she also managed to bridge the gap between law and politics in a way far more accomplished than most. Her knowledge of [...]

  • Eulalie Evan Spicer

    Eulalie Evan Spicer was a lawyer and Legal Aid administrator, described as "one of the most prominent divorce lawyers of her day". Born on 20th April 1906 to Charles Evan [...]

  • Dame Barbara Mills

    Dame Barbara Mills DBE QC was the first female Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) from 1990 to 1992, and the first female Director of Public Prosecutions from 1992 [...]

  • Eva Crawley

    It would be no exaggeration to state that, without the efforts of Eva Crawley, the Association for Women Solicitors might not exist, and that many women who had taken career [...]

  • Ada Summers

    Ada Summers was the first female magistrate, one of the first women in England to become a Justice of the Peace and was the first female councillor, mayor and freeman [...]

  • Moira Gilmour

    The late Moira Gilmour’s remarkable achievements in the legal profession are made all the more laudable by the atypicality of her background. Born to shopkeeper parents and granddaughter to coal [...]

  • Gwyneth Bebb

    Gwyneth Bebb was a plaintiff in the famous Bebb v Law Society case of 1913, which was an attempt by Bebb and others to open the legal profession to women [...]

  • Rose Heilbron

    The late Dame Rose Heilbron’s remarkable catalogue of firsts reads like a record book: her career was truly unprecedented.  She was one of the first women to receive a first [...]

  • Cornelia Sorabji

    Cornelia Sorabji was the first woman to ever sit the Bachelor of Civil Laws exam at Oxford University. Born in Bengal in 1866, Cornelia achieved the unfathomable, becoming the first [...]

  • Ivy Williams

    Dr Ivy Williams was the first woman to be called to the English Bar on the 10th May 1922, although she never practised as a barrister. Born in 1877 in [...]

  • Clarissa Dickson Wright

    Before rising to fame as a celebrity chef, Clarissa Dickson Wright was a barrister. There are many legends surrounding her time at the Bar, none more colourful than her impromptu [...]