Scotland’s First Women Law Graduates: An Edinburgh Centenary

Abstract

The paper, first given as the W A Wilson Lecture in the Faculty of Law, University of Edinburgh, in June 2009, celebrates the centenary of the graduations of the first two women to take the degree of LL.B in the University of Edinburgh, and indeed in Scotland. It examines the background to the admission of the two women to the Edinburgh Faculty of Law in 1906 and follows their subsequent careers in the Faculty and after graduation. The nature of their breakthrough is considered in the light of subsequent developments about the admission of women to study and practice law in Scotland, which is also examined from a comparative point of view.

Keywords: law, Scotland, women, history, legal education professional qualification