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List of first women lawyers and judges in Europe

Albania

Andorra

Austria

Belarus

  • Olga Filippovna Sukhanova: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of the BSSR (1936)
  • Isabella Martsinovich: First female to earn a Doctor of Laws (1969) and become a law professor (1971) in Belarus
  • Lilia Vlasova and Natalia Kozyrenko: First female lawyers to establish a private law practice in post-Soviet Belarus (1990)
  • Valentina Ivanovna Miroshnik: 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: First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Belarus (1994)
  • Natalia Iosifovna Andreichik: First female to serve as the President of the Belarusian Republican Bar Association (1997)
  • Olga Gennadyevna Sergeeva: First female to serve as the Deputy Chairperson of the Constitutional Court of Belarus (2012)

Belgium

  • Marie Popelin: 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): The first women who took the oath of lawyer in Belgium
  • Geneviève Janssen-Pevtschin (1937): First female judge in Belgium (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Brussels Court of First Instance in 1948)
  • Odette Virlée-Leclef: First female to serve as the Chairperson of a Bar Association in Belgium (upon becoming the Chairperson of the Dinant Bar in 1968)
  • Lucie Deltour: First female to serve as the president of a Belgian court (1977)
  • Cecile Draps: First female appointed as a lawyer at the Court of Cassation of Belgium (1980)
  • Irène Pétry: 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]
  • : 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: First female justice to serve as the First President of the Court of Cassation of Belgium (2019)
  • Hilde François: First female to serve as the Senior President of the Court of Audit of Belgium (2023)
  • Ann Fransen: First female federal prosecutor in Belgium (2024)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgaria

  • Vera Zlatareva (1945): First female lawyer in Bulgaria
  • Neviana Hristova: First female lawyer to become a prosecutor in Bulgaria (1953)
  • Milena Zhabinska: First female to serve as a Judge of Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria (1991–1994)
  • Yordanka Hadzhineva: First female to serve as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council of Bulgaria (1991)
  • Snezhana Botusharova: First female elected in respect of Bulgaria to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (1998–2008)
  • Anya Dimova: First female appointed as the Appellate Prosecutor of the Supreme Judicial Council of Bulgaria (2004)
  • Daniela Dokovska: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Bar Council of Bulgaria (2008)
  • Tsanka Tsankova: First female to serve as the Acting Chair of the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria (2012–2013)
  • Maya Manolova: First female to serve as the Ombudsman for Bulgaria (2015)
  • Pavlina Panova: First female to serve as the Chair of the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria (2021)
  • Galina Zaharova: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Cassation of Bulgaria (2022)

Croatia

Cyprus

Northern Cyprus

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

Czech Republic

  • Anděla Kozáková-Jírová: First female to obtain a legal diploma in the Czech Republic in 1923. She became the country's first female notary in 1928.
  • Matylda Mocová-Wíchová (1928): First female lawyer in the Czech Republic
  • : First female judge in the 1930s when the country was a part of Czechoslovakia
  • Viera Strážnická: First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (1991–1992)
  • Iva Brozova, Eva Zarembová, and Ivana Janů: First females appointed as Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic respectively (1993)
  • Ivana Janů: First female to serve as the Vice President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. In 2001, Janu became the first Czech (female) appointed as an ad litem judge for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
  • Kateřina Hornochová: First female to serve as a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic when the court was restructured in 1993
  • Bohumíra Kopečná: First female to serve as the Supreme Public Prosecutor of the Czech Republic (1994)
  • EliÅ¡ka Wagnerová: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic (1998-2002)
  • Michaela Bejčková, MiluÅ¡e DoÅ¡ková, Lenka Kaniová, Lenka Matyášová, Milada Tomková, EliÅ¡ka Cihlářová, Brigita Chrastilová, Dagmar Nygrínová, Marie Souckova, Marie Turkova, Ludmila Valentová and Marie ŽiÅ¡ková: First females to serve as Judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (2003)
  • Monika Novotná: First female to serve as the Vice-President of the Czech Bar Association (2019)
  • Kateřina Å imáčková: First female in respect of the Czech Republic to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2021)

Denmark

  • Nanna Kristensen-Randers: First female to obtain a legal diploma in Denmark in 1887
  • Henny Magnussen (1909): First woman to be permitted to work in the high courts of Denmark. Nanna Kristensen-Randers, who received a legal diploma in 1887, was not authorized to work in the country's high courts but was restricted to the lower courts.
  • Elisa Ussing (1909): First female temporarily appointed as a Judge in the Østre Landsret (One of the high courts of Denmark; 1933). She was officially appointed to the aforementioned court in 1939.
  • Ragnhild Fabricius Gjellerup: First female judge in Denmark (1934)
  • Ingeborg Hansen: First female lawyer to practice before the Supreme Court of Denmark (1943)
  • Bodil Dybdal: First woman appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Denmark (1953)
  • Helga Pedersen (1936): First female appointed as a Judge of the Strasbourg Human Rights Court (1971)
  • Sys Rovsing Koch: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Danish Bar Association (2003)
  • Mette Lyster Knudsen: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Danish Judges’ Association (2024)

Faroe Islands

Estonia

  • Ilse Zimmermann: First female to graduate with a law degree in Estonia in 1922
  • Margot Viirmann-Kanemägi: First female member of the Estonian Bar Association (1924), though she was not officially registered as a lawyer until 1932
  • Auguste Susi-Tannebaum and Olli Olesk: First females to apply for judicial positions, but were ultimately rejected (1924–1929)
  • Hilda Reimann and Marta Kurfeldt (1930): First female lawyers in Estonia
  • Lyubov Hütsi: First female to serve in a judicial capacity in Estonia (1936) [upon being elected as the Chairman of the Tartu Orphans' Court]
  • Lea Kivi and Triinu Vernik: First females appointed as Judges of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Estonia (1993)
  • Julia Laffranque: First female in respect of Estonia to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2011)
  • Ülle Madise: First female to serve as the Chancellor of Justice (Estonia) (2015)
  • Imbi Jürgen: First female to serve as the President of the Estonian Bar Association (2022)

Finland

  • Agnes Lundell (1911): First female to graduate with a law degree (1906) and become a lawyer in Finland
  • Elsa Sohlstedt (1917) and Inkeri Harmaja (1917): First female lawyers to receive the honorary title varatuomari (deputy judge) in Finland [1929-1930]. In 1933, Harmaja became the first female to receive the title of vicehäradshövding (district notary) in Finland. Harmaja became the first female advisor of a Finland Court of Appeal in 1954.
  • Inkeri Anttila (1942): First female doctor of law (1946) and first female professor of law in Finland (upon her appointment as Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Helsinki in 1961)
  • (1943): First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Finland (1949)
  • Lemmikki Kekomäki (1927): First female appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland (1958)
  • (1944): First female appointed as a President of a Court of Appeal in Finland (upon her appointment to the Vaasa Court of Appeal in 1975)
  • Pauliine Koskelo (1979): First female justice appointed as the President of the Supreme Court of Finland (2005)
  • Päivi Hirvelä: First female in respect of Finland to serve as Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2007)
  • Raija Toiviainen: First female to serve as the Deputy Prosecutor General (2016–2018) and Prosecutor General (2018– ) of Finland
  • Tuula Linna: First female to serve as President of the Finnish Bar Association (2019)

France

  • Victorie de Villirouët: First female to act as an attorney in court during the French Revolution (1798)
  • Sarmiza Bilcescu: First female to graduate with a law degree in France in 1887
  • Olga Petit and Jeanne Chauvin (1900): First female lawyers in France. Chauvin would be the first female lawyer to actually plead a case before the French court.
  • Marguerite Dilhan (1903): Third female lawyer in France, the first to open her own firm and to plead before the Assize court in Toulouse.
  • Maria Vérone (1906): First female lawyer to plead before the French assize court in Paris (1908).
  • Mme. Valat: First female lawyer to plead a case before a French military court (1913)
  • Paule Godinot: First female to serve as a Commissioner-in-waiting in France (1928)
  • Paule-René Pignet: First female to serve as the president of a bar association in France (1933)
  • Marguerite Haller and Charlotte Béquignon-Lagarde: First female judges in France (1946). They later became the first females to serve as President of the Conflict Court and preside over a French assize court respectively in France (1962 and 1964).
  • Anne-Marie Gentily: First female assessor of a judge and judge at the Children's Court
  • Jacqueline Bauchet and Louise Cadoux: First females to serve as members of the Council of State (France) (1953)
  • Simone Veil: First female to serve as the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Magistracy (1970)
  • Marcelle Pipien: First female to serve as the President of an Administrative Court in France (1973)
  • Marie-Thérèse Goutmann: First female to sit on the High Court of Justice of France (1974)
  • (1976): First female lawyer in the State Council and the Court of Cassation of France
  • Suzanne Challe: First female to serve as the President of a Court of Appeal in France (1978)
  • Suzanne Bastid: First female to sit among the members of the International Court of Justice for oral proceedings (1982)
  • (1945): First female justice appointed as the President of the Court of Cassation of France (1984–1988). In 1981, Rozes became the first female Advocate General of the European Court of Justice.
  • Noëlle Lenoir: First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Council of France (1992)
  • Marie-Pierre Cordier: First female to serve as the Attorney General of the Court of Auditors of France (2012)
  • Sarah Tournier: First female appointed as a Judge of the Commercial Court of France (2018)
  • Christiane Féral-Schuhl: First female to serve as the President of the National Bar Council (2018–2020)

Germany

Greece

Hungary

  • Ilonka Hajnal: First female to study law in Hungary (1913)
  • Irén Svábyné (Priegl): 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): First female lawyer in Hungary [she practiced law in Budapest, Central Hungary]
  • Magda Bernauer (1948): First female to pass the patent attorney exam and receive a patent attorney license in Hungary
  • Istvánné Pomázi: First female judge in Hungary (c. 1948)
  • : First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Hungary (1999)

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Kosovo

Latvia

Liechtenstein

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

Lithuania

  • Liuda Vienožinskaitė-Purėnienė (1917): First female lawyer in Lithuania
  • : First female judge in Lithuania (1924)
  • Teodora Staugaitienė: First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania (1993)
  • Ona Aldona Budienė, Irena Stankevičienė, and Lidija Liucija Žilienė: First females appointed as Justices of the Supreme Court of Lithuania (1994)
  • Janina JanuÅ¡kienė, Laima Garnelienė, Janina Stripeikienė and Violeta Ražinskaitė: First females appointed as Judges of the Lithuania Court of Appeal (1995)
  • Danutė Jočienė: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania (2021). In 2003, she became the first female in respect of Lithuania to serve on the European Court of Human Rights.
  • Nida Grunskienė: First female to serve as the Prosecutor General of Lithuania (2021)
  • Skirgailė Žalimienė: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (2022)
  • Dalia Foigt-NorvaiÅ¡ienė: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Lithuanian Bar Association's Honorable Court of Advocates (2022)
  • Danguolė Bublienė: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Lithuania (2023)

Luxembourg

  • Marguerite Welter (1923): First female admitted to the Luxembourg Bar, though she ultimately did not practice law
  • Netty Probst (1927): 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: First female to apply to become a magistrate in Luxembourg, but was denied (1937)
  • Anne-Marie Courte, Claire Peters and Jeanne Rouff: 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.
  • Paulette Lenert: First female to serve as a judge and the Deputy Chairperson of the Administrative Court of Luxembourg (1997–2010)
  • Chantal Arens: First French (female) magistrate to serve on the Luxembourg Court of Justice
  • Martine Solovieff: First female appointed as the State Attorney General of Luxembourg (2015)

Malta

Moldova

Transnistria

  • Ivanova Olga Dmitrievna and Valentina Nikolaevna Chebotar: First females to serve as the Chairperson and Deputy of the Supreme Court of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) respectively (1992)
  • Maria Melnik: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Arbitration Court of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) (2012)

Monaco

  • Laurence Aureglia (1959): First female lawyer in Monaco
  • Hélène Marquilly (1967): First female defense lawyer in Monaco
  • Ariane Picco-Margossian: 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.
  • Monique François: First Monegasque female magistrate appointed as the First President of the Court of Appeal of the Principality of Monaco
  • Isabelle Berro-Amadeï: First female in respect of Monaco to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2006)

Montenegro

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

  • Julija (Julia) Jovanova Lazović: First female to earn a university (law) degree in Montenegro (1906)
  • Zorka Komnenić and Antonija Bulat Stojanović: First female lawyers in Montenegro. Stojanović would become the first female President of the Bar Association of Montenegro.
  • Ksenija Raičević: First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro
  • Emilija Durutović: First female to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Montenegro
  • Vesna Medenica: First female appointed as a state prosecutor in Montenegro, as well as the first female President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro (c. 2016)
  • Ivana Jelić: First female in respect of Montenegro to serve as a Judge (2018) and Vice-President (2024) of the European Court of Human Rights

Netherlands

  • Elisabeth van Dorp: First female to earn a law degree in the Netherlands in 1899, but she did not practice as an attorney
  • (law degree 1903): First female lawyer in the Netherlands
  • Johanna Clementina Hudig (law degree 1934): First female judge in the Netherlands (1947)
  • A.A.L. "Guusje" Minkenhof (law degree c. 1940s): First female advocate general (1966) and first female counselor (1967) at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands
  • Dien Korvinus (law degree 1964): First female appointed as the Attorney General of the Netherlands (1970–1999)
  • PMA de Groot-van Dijken: First female to serve as the Chairperson of a Bar Association in the Netherlands (upon becoming the Chairperson of the Young Bar Association in Utrecht in 1977)
  • Winnie Sorgdrager: First female chief prosecutor of any court in the Netherlands (1994)
  • Wilhelmina Thomassen: First female in respect of the Netherlands to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (1998)
  • Els Unger: First female to serve as the Dean of the Dutch Bar Association [Nederlandse orde van advocaten] (2005)
  • Liesbeth Lijnzaad: First Dutch (female) to serve as a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (2017)
  • Dineke de Groot: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (2020)

North Macedonia

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

Norway

Svalbard and Jan Mayen

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

San Marino

  • Rita Palazzetti: First female lawyer who was awarded the notarial seal in San Marino (1974)
  • Maria Lea Pedini-Angelini: First female to serve as a Captain Regent of the Republic of San Marino (1980)
  • Gloria Giardi, Gianna Burgagni, Antonella Annamaria Bonelli, Daniela Della Balda, Anna Maria Lonfemini and Maria Christina Lonfemini (1995): 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)
  • Antonella Mularoni: First female in respect of San Marino to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2001)
  • Maria Selva: 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: First female to serve as the President of the Criminal Chamber of San Marino Association (2016)

Serbia

Slovakia

  • Louise Pappova: First female candidate inscribed into the list of advocates in Slovakia (1925)
  • Alžbeta Cziglerová Wildmann (1931): First female lawyer in Slovakia
  • : First female judge in 1934 when the country was a part of Czechoslovakia
  • Viera Strážnická: First female in respect of the Slovak Republic to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (1998)
  • Daniela Å vecová: First female to serve as the Vice President (2005) and President of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic (2014)
  • Ivetta Macejková: First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Slovakia (2007). In 2006, she became the first female appointed as a judge and member of the Criminal Panel of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic.

Slovenia

  • Zora TominÅ¡ek (1929) and Zdenka Brejc-Perne (1937): First female lawyers in Slovenia respectively
  • Jolanka Kuhar–Mevželj and Francka Strmole–Hlastec: First females to serve as Judges of the Supreme Court of Slovenia (1974). Strmole–Hlastec later became the first female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Slovenia (1991–1993).
  • (1966): First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia (1998)
  • Dragica Wedam Lukić: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia (2001)
  • Mirjam Å krk: First female to serve as the Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Slovenia (2004)
  • (c. 1966): First female appointed as the Attorney General of Slovenia (2004)
  • Verica Trstenjak: First Slovenian (female) to serve as a Judge of the European Union Court of First Instance in Luxembourg (2004). In 2006, she became the First Slovenian (female) to serve as the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (2006).
  • Jana Ahčin: First female to serve as the President of the Court of Audit of Slovenia (2022)
  • Beti Hohler: First Slovenian (female) to serve as a Judge of the International Criminal Court (2024)

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

  • Elena Abramovna Halperin-Ginsburg: One of the first female lawyers in Ukraine. She was denied the right to practice law in 1909 despite passing the bar exam in Kharkiv.
  • Olga Elvira Lustig-Hanytska (1938): First Ukrainian female lawyer (she practiced in Galicia, which spanned regions of Poland and Ukraine)
  • : First female to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine (1988)
  • Tatiana Viktorivna Varfolomeeva: First female to serve as the President of the Ukrainian Bar Association (1995)
  • Lyudmila Fedorovna Malinnikova and Lyudmila Pantelievna Chubar: First females appointed as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (1996)
  • Suzanne Romanovna Stanik: First female to serve as a Deputy Chairperson of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (2006)
  • Anna Yudkovskaya: First Ukrainian female to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2010)
  • Valentyna Danishevska (1983): First female justice to serve as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine (2017)
  • Natalia Shaptala: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (2019)
  • Iryna Venediktova: First female to serve as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (2020)

United Kingdom

Vatican City (Holy See)

See also

Notes

References