Lawyer Monthly Magazine -December 2019 Edition

Charlotte E. Ray became the first African-American female lawyer in the United States, as well as the first female admitted to the District of Columbia Bar, and the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Arabella Mansfield became the first female lawyer in the United States, despite the fact that there was an Iowa state law which restricted females from entering the bar exam. Arabella didn’t allow this to stop her; she took the exam, earning high scores and thus admitted to the Iowa bar in 1869. 1869 1870 Ada Kepley became the first woman in the US to graduate from law school. 1872 1879 A law was enacted allowing qualified female attorneys to practice in any federal court in the United States. However, in the UK Eliza Orme applied to take the Law Society’s exams to become a solicitor. Her application was refused. Belva Lockwood became the first woman to argue before the United States Supreme Court. She was also the first woman admitted to the US Supreme Court Bar. 1885 Helen Taylor became the first English woman parliamentary candidate. Her programme included just and better laws for women, the prevention of war, and ‘less work and better pay’ for the working classes. 1888 Despite being knocked down before, Eliza Orme became the first woman to earn a law degree in England at UCL. Prior to this, she was ‘unofficially’ practising law. Cornelia Sorabji , who was the first woman to practice law in India and Britain and the first female advocate in India, was also the first Indian national and first woman at Oxford university to sit Bachelor of Civil Law. She had to wait a long 30 years for her degree, however, until the Sex Disqualification Act. 1892