Ivy Williams

Dr. Ivy Williams (7 September 1877 – 18 February 1966), was the first woman to be called to the English bar.

She was born in Newton Abbot and educated privately. By 1903 she had completed all her law examinations, but was prevented by the prevailing regulations concerning the qualification of women at Oxford from matriculating or receiving her BA, MA and BCL until the regulations were reformed in 1920. In 1921 she was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, and thus became the first woman barrister in England.

In 1923 she became the first woman to be awarded the degree of DCL (Doctor of Civil Law) in Oxford for her published work "The Sources of Law in the Swiss Civil Code". In 1956 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

External links

* [http://www.city.ac.uk/icsl/ City University, London website]
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Ladies%201st%20-%20I.htm Ladies First website]