First Women Solicitors

Centenary

First Women Solicitors

The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 made it illegal to refuse entry to the solicitors’ profession on grounds of sex alone, but it did not oblige qualified solicitors to take on women as articled clerks nor to instruct women barristers. Nevertheless, in the decade that followed this Act, 101 women did qualify as solicitors of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Elizabeth Cruickshank reflects on who these women were, their backgrounds and motivations.

The effects of the First World War

The First World War hastened the entry of women into the profession. 5000 solicitors and articled clerks served in the armed forces and by the end of the war, 906 had died with many others unable to continue working. One result was that The Law Society asked members to train suitably qualified young men who had served in the War without demanding premiums and supported the Solicitors (Articled Clerks) Act 1918, which permitted articled clerks to count time spent in the Armed Forces as a year’s good service for the purpose of articles thus considerably shortening the period of training.

The Law Society decided that any concessions should apply equally to all articled clerks regardless of sex. Carrie Morrison was one of the very few women, possibly the only one, able to take advantage of this ruling because she had spent a year working for the Army of the Black Sea in Istanbul. In 1922, Carrie Morrison became the first woman to qualify in England and Wales.

Education

The women admitted as solicitors in this period were at least as well educated as male solicitors. Twenty-six of the first 101 women solicitors had the benefit of a university education and several won prizes in the Law Society Finals Examinations. The formidable, chain-smoking Agnes Twiston Hughes BSc was not only the first woman in Wales to qualify as a solicitor but she came first out of all candidates in the 1923 examinations. Later she became senior partner of her family firm, the Mayor of Conwy and the Captain of the Conwy Golf Club.

Some of the older women qualifiers had already acquired useful legal skills working as clerks in solicitors’ offices. Others worked as teachers before turning to the Law as soon as the 1919 act was passed. Carrie Morrison, who in 1922 became the first woman to qualify in England and Wales, worked as a teacher for a time until she concluded that “I hated it, and that was bad for the children I had to teach”.

Paying for training

Most early women solicitors came from solidly middle-class backgrounds, and some from extreme wealthy ones. Ulrica Anne Hastie (who qualified in 1927) lived in Knightsbridge with her mother, solicitor father, one sibling and seven servants! Only a very small number of the women who qualified in the first decade were less privileged, for example, Catherine Tietjen, the daughter of a hotel waiter who came first in the 1924 final examinations. She was so valued by her principal that 5 years later, he made her a partner.

A significant barrier to the aspirations of working-class men and women was the substantial sum required to be paid for training. This upfront premium demanded by most solicitors was in the order of £300 to £500 when as little as £250 per annum might be earned on qualification. This was a serious expense for most families, especially so for a daughter who might marry relatively soon after qualification.

Therefore, in many parts of the country, the only possibility for training was with a father or near male relative. Even before the passing the 1919 Act young women had been employed in solicitors’ offices in a clerical or “paralegal” capacity. For a solicitor father there were advantages to employing a daughter. He felt able “to keep an eye on her”, obtained intelligent and, initially at least, cheap or unpaid labour, justified on the basis that his daughter was able to enjoy the benefits of living at home.

Grace Brown (a 1925 qualifier) was given the option of continuing her studies and becoming a teacher like her mother or “coming with me to the office”. She chose the latter course and fortunately “enjoyed the whole experience of being a solicitor”, giving it up only when she married.

However, the experience of being trained by a close family member was not always positive and the power of Twentieth Century paternalism cannot be underestimated. Crane Ritchie (who qualified in 1924) was given articles as a Christmas present by her father. Dorothy Morgan qualified in 1925 but her nephew considered that her father “made it almost impossible for her to marry and to leave him, and she was at times torn between staying with him and going out with handsome young barristers”.

Benefits

Being able to rely on her own earning power meant that a woman did not have to depend on a husband and 40% of the women who qualified during this period did not marry. The death toll of the First World War undoubtedly removed the potential opportunity to marry for many women – in 1921 there were 1,720,806 more women than men in the population.

Therefore, qualifying as a solicitor gave young women a certain degree of financial independence and the insurance policy of a set of very marketable skills if adverse circumstances developed. Janet Mack (who qualified in 1930) left the profession after marriage but by returning to practise as the first woman solicitor in Cheltenham, was able to support her children and mother while her husband was in the Army.

The legal qualification undoubtedly enabled many of the first qualifiers to lead varied lives where they were able to combine managing their own legal practices with sporting interests and take a full part in politics and serving their local communities. Maud Crofts, one of the first four women to sit The Law Society’s final examination in 1922, was a keen tennis player and Agnes Hughes (1923 qualifier) was a good putt on the golf course. Mary Elaine Sykes, who sat the examination with Maud Crofts in 1922, went on to become Mayor of Huddersfield.

Progress

In 1957, thirty-five years after women were first admitted as solicitors, The Law Society published details of the number of women holding practicing certificates. There were 356 female as opposed to 19,000 male solicitors (1.8% of the profession). Since then the position has changed slowly but significantly. In 1967 there were 619 women solicitors (2.7% of the profession). Latest figures available show there are 80, 881 women solicitors (53% of the profession) with more women than men entering the profession (The Law Society Annual Statistics Report 2021). However, there is one statistic which does not indicate a positive surge in women’s progress, which is women making partnership.

While there are currently 27,364 partners, only 8,930 of them are women (18%). Some women solicitors have chosen to follow careers outside private practice as they are more flexible and family-friendly. However even this may change, if we want it to, as firms appreciate that women do possess those legal skills and talents which some solicitors mistakenly felt they lacked one hundred years ago.

Elizabeth Cruickshank

Elizabeth Cruickshank is an author, solicitor and former editor of LINK, the magazine of the Association of Women Solicitors (no longer in publication).