Stella Thomas
Stella Jane Thomas (1906-1974) was the first West African woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales at the Middle Temple. Called on 10 May 1933, by 1935 she had returned to West Africa and registered as … Read more
Margaret Bondfield
Margaret Bondfield was a political trailblazer and a woman of many ‘firsts’. She was a founding member of the Adult Suffrage Society (ASS) in 1904 and the Women’s Labour League in 1906. She became the first female President of the … Read more
Agnes Twiston Hughes
Agnes Twiston Hughes was the first Welsh woman to qualify as solicitor in Wales, to hold a practising certificate and to run a legal practice. Her quiet contribution to the opening up of the profession was made in her local … Read more
Women’s lavatory accommodation at the Law Society, 1923
On 28 March 1919 the Law Society Council responded to the certainty of legislation requiring the bar to be lifted on women entering the legal professions with a Special Meeting to consider a motion that ended the Society’s previous opposition. … Read more
Monica Geikie Cobb
On 1 December 1922, Monica Mary Geikie Cobb became the first woman barrister in England and Wales to appear in court. She had qualified as a barrister on 22 November that year, one of the first small cohort of women … Read more
Nancy Astor
On 1 December 1919 Nancy Astor became the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. Hers was the first female voice heard in the chamber as an MP; she was the first woman MP to … Read more
Lesley MacDonagh
In 1995, Lesley MacDonagh was appointed as the managing partner of Lovell White Durrant (now Hogan Lovells), the first time that a woman had been chosen to lead a top 10 law firm in England & Wales.
Foundation of the Association of Women Barristers (1991)
‘Over the years, the Association has been involved in every major consultation and advance in equality and diversity which has benefited not only women barristers but also men at the Bar’. Frances Burton
Patricia Scotland
Patricia Scotland was the first Black woman appointed QC and first woman Attorney-General.
Averil Deverell
Averil Deverell was the first woman barrister to practise in Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales.
Madge Easton Anderson
Madge Easton Anderson was the first woman to be admitted to the legal profession in the United Kingdom.
Rose Heilbron
Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge when she was appointed Recorder of Burnley in 1956.