List of first women lawyers and judges in Europe

Albania

Andorra

  • Rosa Ferràndiz:[13] First (female) notary in Andorra (1998)
  • Sonia Artal Conesa (2013):[14] First female lawyer of Spanish nationality to practice in Andorra
  • Maria Teresa Armengol Bonet:[15] First female to serve as a member of the Superior Council of Justice of Andorra (2005)
  • Laurence Burgogue-Larsen:[16][17] First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Andorra (2012)

Austria

Marianne Beth: First female lawyer in Austria (1922)

Belarus

  • Olga Filippovna Sukhanova:[32][33] First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of the BSSR (1936)
  • Isabella Martsinovich:[34] First female to earn a Doctor of Laws (1969) and become a law professor (1971) in Belarus
  • Lilia Vlasova and Natalia Kozyrenko:[35][36][37] First female lawyers to establish a private law practice in post-Soviet Belarus (1990)
  • Valentina Ivanovna Miroshnik:[38] First Belarusian female to serve as a Judge of the Economic Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States (1992)
  • Rimma Ivanovna Filipchik, Podgrusha Valentina Vasilyevna, and Kenik (Khoma) Ksenia Ivanovna:[39] First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Belarus (1994)
  • Natalia Iosifovna Andreichik:[40][41] First female to serve as the President of the Belarusian Republican Bar Association (1997)

Belgium

Marie Popelin: First female to earn a doctorate in law in Belgium (1888)
  • Marie Popelin:[42] First female to earn a doctorate in law in Belgium in 1888, but denied the right to practice as a lawyer
  • Paule Lemy and Marcelle Renson (1922):[43][44][45][46] The first women who took the oath of lawyer in Belgium
  • Geneviève Janssen-Pevtschin (1937):[47][48][49] First female judge in Belgium (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Brussels Court of First Instance in 1948)
  • Odette Virlée-Leclef:[50][51] First female to serve as the Chairperson of a Bar Association in Belgium (upon becoming the Chairperson of the Dinant Bar in 1968)
  • Cecile Draps:[52] First female appointed as a lawyer at the Court of Cassation of Belgium (1980)
  • Irène Pétry:[53][54] First female to serve as a Judge (1984) and President (1991) of the Court of Arbitration of Belgium (Francophone Group) [renamed as the Constitutional Court of Belgium in 2007]
  • Anne Thily [FRA]:[55][56] First female appointed as an Attorney General for a Belgian Court of Appeal (upon her appointment to the Liège Court of Appeal in 1996)
  • Beatrijs Deconinck:[57] First female justice to serve as the First President of the Court of Cassation of Belgium (2019)
  • Ann Fransen:[58] First female federal prosecutor in Belgium (2024)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Northern Cyprus

  • Shefika Hassan Hilmi Durduran (c. 1970s):[97] First Turkish Cypriot woman to have registered to practice law in Northern Cyprus
  • Gönül Başaran Erönen (1975):[94] First female appointed as a Justice of the Northern Cyprus Supreme Court (1994)
  • Emine Dizdarlı:[98] First female Ombudsman of Northern Cyprus (2015)

Czech Republic

Denmark

Nanna Kristensen-Randers: First female to obtain a legal diploma in Denmark (1887)

Faroe Islands

Estonia

  • Ilse Zimmermann: First female to graduate with a law degree in Estonia in 1922[132]
  • Margot Viirmann-Kanemägi: First female member of the Estonian Bar Association (1924), though she was not officially registered as a lawyer until 1932[133]
  • Auguste Susi-Tannebaum and Olli Olesk: First females to apply for judicial positions, but were ultimately rejected (1924–1929)[133]
  • Hilda Reimann and Marta Kurfeldt (1930): First female lawyers in Estonia[133]
  • Lyubov Hütsi: First female to serve in a judicial capacity in Estonia (1936) [upon being elected as the Chairman of the Tartu Orphans' Court][133]
  • Lea Kivi and Triinu Vernik: First females appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Estonia (1993)[134]
  • Imbi Jürgen:[135] First female to serve as the President of the Estonian Bar Association (2022)

Finland

France

Jeanne Chauvin: First female lawyer to plead a case before the French court (1900)

Germany

Anita Augsburg: First female to earn a law degree in Germany (1897)

Greece

Hungary

  • Ilonka Hajnal:[211] First female to study law in Hungary (1913)
  • Irén Svábyné (Priegl):[212] First female to earn a Juris Doctor and become a lawyer candidate in Hungary (1925). She died before she could achieve her goal.
  • Margit Ungár (1928):[213][214][215][216] First female lawyer in Hungary [she practiced law in Budapest, Central Hungary]
  • Magda Bernauer (1948):[217] First female to pass the patent attorney exam and receive a patent attorney license in Hungary
  • Istvánné Pomázi:[218] First female judge in Hungary (c. 1948)
  • Tersztyánszky Ödönné Vasadi Éva [hun]:[219][220] First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Hungary (1999)

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Kosovo

Latvia

Liechtenstein

  • Gertrud Beck (1956):[285][286] First female lawyer in Liechtenstein
  • Edith Frick, Brigette Feger, and Hilda Korner:[287][288][289] First females to serve as Judges of the State (Constitutional) Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein (1979; 1985)

Lithuania

Luxembourg

  • Marguerite Welter (1923):[300][301] First female admitted to the Luxembourg Bar, though she ultimately did not practice law
  • Netty Probst (1927):[302][303][304] First female lawyer to actually practice law in Luxembourg. She was also the first female to serve as the Bâtonnière of the Luxembourg Bar Association (1954–1956).
  • Marthe Glesener:[305] First female to apply to become a magistrate in Luxembourg, but was denied (1937)
  • Anne-Marie Courte, Claire Peters and Jeanne Rouff:[305] First females to serve as magistrates in Luxembourg (1961). Rouff later became the first female to serve as a state prosecutor in Luxembourg, as well as the first female President of the Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Luxembourg.[306]
  • Paulette Lenert:[307] First female to serve as a judge and the Deputy Chairperson of the Administrative Court of Luxembourg (1997–2010)
  • Chantal Arens:[308] First French (female) magistrate to serve on the Luxembourg Court of Justice
  • Martine Solovieff:[309][310] First female appointed as the State Attorney General of Luxembourg (2015)

Malta

Moldova

Transnistria

Monaco

  • Laurence Aureglia (1959):[329] First female lawyer in Monaco
  • Ariane Picco-Margossian:[329] First female magistrate in Monaco (upon her appointment as a deputy judge in 1970). She was also the first female Attorney General of the Principality of Monaco.[330]
  • Monique François:[331][332] First Monegasque female magistrate appointed as the First President of the Court of Appeal of the Principality of Monaco

Montenegro

An unknown woman became the first female judge in Montenegro in 1954. She had served in the Basic Court.[333]

  • Julija (Julia) Jovanova Lazović:[334] First female to earn a university (law) degree in Montenegro (1906)
  • Zorka Komnenić:[335] First Montenegrin female lawyer
  • Ksenija Raičević:[336][337] First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro
  • Emilija Durutović:[338] First female to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Montenegro
  • Vesna Medenica:[336][337][339] First female appointed as a state prosecutor in Montenegro, as well as the first female President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro (c. 2016)

Netherlands

Elisabeth van Dorp: First female to earn a law degree in the Netherlands, but she did not practice as an attorney (1899)

North Macedonia

  • Gordana Dimitrovska Hristovska Takesz (1983):[352][353][354] First female lawyer in North Macedonia [specifically in Bitola, Pelagonia Region, North Macedonia]
  • Alma Mustafovska-Salimovska:[355] First Roma female lawyer (now registered with the Bar Association of North Macedonia) in the former country of Yugoslavia
  • Branka Ciriviri-Antonovska:[356] First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia (1984)
  • Margarita Caca Nikolovska:[357] First Macedonian (female) to serve as a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (1998)
  • Liljana Ingilizova-Ristova:[356] First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia (2003)
  • Besa Ademi:[358] First Albanian female appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of North Macedonia (2009) and serve as its President (2021)
  • Lidija Nedelkova:[359] First female appointed as the President of the Supreme Court of North Macedonia (2012)

Norway

Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Anna Evreinova: First female to earn a law degree in Russia (1873)

San Marino

  • Rita Palazzetti:[429] First female lawyer who was awarded the notarial seal in San Marino (1974)
  • Maria Lea Pedini-Angelini:[430] First female to serve as a Captain Regent of the Republic of San Marino (1980)[431]
  • Gloria Giardi, Gianna Burgagni, Antonella Annamaria Bonelli, Daniela Della Balda, Anna Maria Lonfemini and Maria Christina Lonfemini (1995):[432][433] First females to register as members of the Order of Lawyers and Notaries in San Marino (Ordine degli Avvocati e Notai della Repubblica di San Marino)
  • Maria Selva:[434][435][436] First female to serve as the President of the Order of Lawyers and Notaries in San Marino (2012). She later became the first female Vice President of the Criminal Chamber of San Marino in 2015 (since the Camera Penale di San Marino's establishment in 2014)
  • Gianna Burgagni:[437] First female to serve as the President of the Criminal Chamber of San Marino (2016)

Serbia

Slovakia

  • Louise Pappova:[446] First female candidate inscribed into the list of advocates in Slovakia[447] (1925)
  • Alžbeta Cziglerová Wildmann (1931):[446][448][449] First female lawyer in Slovakia[450]
  • Zdeňka Patschová:[451] First female judge in 1934 when the country was a part of Czechoslovakia
  • Daniela Švecová:[452][453] First female to serve as the Vice President (2005) and President of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic (2014)
  • Ivetta Macejková:[454] First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Slovakia (2007)

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

United Kingdom

See Women in law in the United Kingdom

Vatican City (Holy See)

See also

References