Averill Deverill
Irish barrister
Category Archives: Law
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Katherine Delahunt
First female solicitor appointed to the Circuit Court in Ireland
Edith Ann Mary Haynes
In 1900, having worked at her uncle’s law firm, she applied to the Barristers Board of Western Australia to sit the examinations necessary to practise as a lawyer. The board refused her request on the grounds that a woman was not a ‘person’ under the Legal Practitioners Act 1893. Haynes challenged the decision in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, but it was upheld; she was never admitted to practice.
Mella Carroll
Irish judge
Audrey Ngaere Gale
In 1945 she founded and became secretary of the New Plymouth branch of the New Zealand National Party, and in 1951 became chairwoman of the New Plymouth women’s section. She went on to become a dominion councillor (1951–54) and women’s vice president (1953–54), and a member of the dominion executive in 1954 and of the dominion policy advisory committee in 1956.
Ellen Melville
Although she worked tirelessly to complete the work of the nineteenth century feminists in attempting to remove so-called women’s disabilities, Ellen Melville represented a new breed of feminism. She was an independent professional woman who vigorously sought full participation in public life. She encouraged other women to follow her and to form strong women’s societies, which would take women’s concerns into the arena of public affairs. Melville was one of the key figures in the revival of the feminist movement in the twentieth century.
Inez Milholland
American suffrage leader and lawyer.
Brigid Cotter
Irish chemist and barrister
Ellen Elizabeth Ferner
As a member of the Auckland Community Welfare Council when it formed in mid 1924, Ferner was involved in providing important support for the passage of the Child Welfare Act in 1925. This experience, and her wider work on children’s issues, culminated in her appointment as one of the first three associate members of the Children’s Court in 1926.
Myra Bradwell
The first woman in America to ask for admission to the bar having studied law with her husband. On being refused she went to work, with the aid of her husband, to secure the passage of a law making it possible for women to practice in the courts of Illinois. She was years later, without solicitation, admitted on her original application. She was the first woman made a member of the Illinois Bar and Press Associations. She established the Legal News, a recognized legal authority.