Who Were the First Female Lawyers?

Throughout the history of law there were numerous women who broke the mold and were crucial to the government, despite not having equal rights as many. The start of this breakthrough occurred between 1870 and 1920, when women began to emerge in the field of law and have their voices heard as defense attorneys and prosecutors.

Despite many historical moments aiming to progress the rights of women, female lawyers in the late-19th and early 20th Centuries continued to be stymied and stereotyped in their practice. It would not be until the late 20th Century that women could serve the law in any substantial number, and even then they were not considered equal to men. Investigations into this transitory period indicate that personality, class and even jurisdiction all factored into how prominent a female lawyer might be, as well as how judges would often cherry-pick precedent to ease their presumptions about female lawyers.

Here are a few examples of female lawyers who revolutionized the field of law and paved the way for women to come.

Arabella Mansfield

Mansfield was the first American woman to become a lawyer, by way of Iowa in 1869. Part of Mansfield’s success was due to lax record-keeping policies of the nascent western states of the United States; she took advantage of this opportunity to break into the field of law, and set a precedent for those women to come.

Eliza Orme

Eliza Orme was the first female English barrister. Orme performed duties in England related to the position of the barrister that no one else would be able to perform until 1922, formally.

Jeanne Chauvin

Similarly, Jeanne Chauvin was fully qualified and working under the radar in the French court system in 1890. However, due to law she was not allowed to take the avocat’s oath until a decade later.

Ethen Benjamin

New Zealand’s Ethel Benjamin was admitted to the bar in 1897. she was mostly isolated from her colleagues despite their admission of her competence, and faced serious claims of sexism in the face of her brilliant qualifications.

Lydia Poet

Italy’s Lydia Poet met all the qualifications for a lawyer in 1883 and started practicing two years later. Despite her many achievements and accolades, Poet was denied formal recognition until after World War I.

Cornelia Sorabji

India’s Cornelia Sorabji valiantly and successfully defended a murder charge in 1896. However, despite this she was denied full legal credentials for her entire lifetime due to her status as a woman.