We're pleased to fold this one-day symposium at The Open University Law School to mark the centenary of Olive Clapham becoming the first woman to pass the Bar Finals in May 1921.
Olive Clapham’s achievement was widely celebrated in the press with many reports calling her the ‘first woman barrister’. She was a highly motivated and talented young woman with an unconventional background who was called to the Bar in 1924 – but disappeared from news stories after her exam success.
In tribute to her achievement, and in recognition of the complexities of her and her peers’ stories, this event explores the challenges as well as the pleasures of historical research in this area – as well as its continuing effects upon the profession today.