On 28 March 1919 the Law Society Council responded to the certainty of legislation requiring the bar to be lifted on women entering the legal professions with a Special Meeting to consider a motion that ended the Society’s previous opposition. For supporters of equality, there was a celebratory atmosphere. Few had spoken against the motion and the vote – 50 in favour and 33 against – was a convincing victory. Council member Samuel Garrett, a London solicitor, former Law Society President, and brother of suffragist leader Millicent Garrett Fawcett, caught the mood of the winning side: ‘Minorities,’ he said, ‘had a way of becoming majorities in these progressive times’.
However, it took the Society four further years to agree building works to provide women students and solicitors with cloakroom and lavatory facilities. It was not until 16 February 1923 that the Council adopted a recommendation by the House Committee to provide ‘cloak-room and lavatory accommodation’ for women. Nevertheless, decades before women solicitors achieved numerical equality, this measure of equality was built into the permanent physical architecture of the solicitor profession at its own Hall – the location not just for ceremony, but also teaching, study, examination and professional encounters.
The full version of this landmark is written by Eduardo Reyes. You can read the full version here.
9781509969722_Womens Legal Landmarks in the Interwar Years, 14