Born: 22 April 1862, France
Died: 7 September 1926
Country most active: France
Also known as: NA
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Mlle. Chauvin, a French lawyer, the first woman admitted to the bar in Europe. At school she was an infant prodigy. In 1884 she took her bachelorship of letters, and in 1892 became a doctor of laws.
Her application to practice was strongly contested but it was found by judges that the law was on her side and she was duly sworn in.
She was an ardent exponent of the rights of women and wrote a thesis, “Professions Accessible to Women” which was a powerful plea for the admission of women to all the professions without distinction.
IW note: Chauvin was actually the second French woman authorised to plead the bar, after Olga Petit.