The First 100 Years campaign inspired me to research the history of women in the legal profession for my Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), the equivalent of half an A level. I discovered the First 100 Years campaign after a summer placement at a London Law Firm and subsequently won a school history competition when I […]
An exclusive interview with Hilary Heilbron QC discussing her mother, Dame Rose Heilbron, who was the first of two female QCs, the first female Recorder, and the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey.
Baroness Butler-Sloss was the first woman to sit on the Court of Appeal and thus the first female Lord Justice of Appeal. She was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom until 2004. Called to the Bar in 1955, she was also the fourth woman ever to be appointed a High Court judge, in […]
Taking Stock: Progress and Next Steps In this final episode of the series, we discuss what has been learnt by uncovering the stories of women in law and the light it sheds on current barriers to progress for women. The experience of women lawyers in public leadership roles, and what diversity means in achieving full […]
Sarah Leigh, a pioneering clinical negligence lawyer, co-founded Leigh Day in 1987. She was also awarded an OBE for her contribution to the Woolf Inquiry into access to justice and reducing the cost of medical negligence litigation.
The Leaky Pipeline This a special live recorded episode of the podcast. To set the scene for this 9th episode we’ve reached the decade of the 2000’s. This first decade of the new millennium saw global financial instability and the credit crunch which sent profound shockwaves through the UK economy, and resulted in many redundancies […]
Sex Discrimination Act: Equality in name? Discussing discrimination and the impact of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. What was the experience of discrimination in the professions? To what extent did things change following the passing of the Act? Did the earlier Equal Pay Act 1970 have an impact for women trying to forge a career […]
Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon) is the first woman to be elected as President of the Federation of European Bar Associations. Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon) is a solicitor and Professor of Clinical Legal Education and works in the Legal Advice Clinic of the London South Bank University where she trains and supervises law students […]
In 2017, Baroness Brenda Hale became the first woman to be appointed president of the Supreme Court in England & Wales. The First 100 Years project was lucky to film her before, when she was the only woman supreme court justice. She is a true trailblazer for women in law and women in leadership more […]
Dorothy Mary Donaldson was the first female Lord Mayor of London. Dorothy Mary Donaldson, The Lady Donaldson of Lymington, previously known as Dame Mary Donaldson, was born in Wickham, Hampshire, and trained in Oxford as a nurse during the war, qualifying in 1946. Her patients included soldiers returning from Dunkirk and victims of the Blitz. […]
Elsie Bowerman was called to the Bar in 1924, two years after Ivy Williams became the first woman called. She was also a suffragette, a Titanic survivor, and barrister. Born in 1889, Elsie was the daughter of a prosperous businessman who died when she was five years old. When she started at Wycombe Abbey, aged […]
Theodora Llewelyn Davies was the first female applicant to be admitted to the Inner Temple in 1920, and one of the earliest women to be called to the Bar on 17th November 1922. Theodora Llewelyn Davies, usually known as Theo, was born on 18 April 1898 in Birkenhead, the daughter of Maurice Llewelyn Davies and […]