She could not yet work as an attorney, as this was not possible for women. She was however hired as a junior solicitor by attorney
Thorstein Diesen in 1902, and from 1903 to 1904 she served as a deputy judge in Kristiania Probate Court. Elise Sem and other
candidatae juris campaigned for the right for women to hold law offices. A law proposal was sent to the
Parliament of Norway from the
Norwegian Bar Association, and when parts of it passed, it was largely because Elise Sem was seen as qualified for being an attorney. The new law was thus dubbed "Lex Elisiana". It came into effect on 22 March 1904, and on the same day Sem opened her own attorney's office in
Karl Johans gate 10. She thereby became the first female attorney in Europe. In 1905 she was the first female
prosecutor in Norway, in 1911 she was the first woman to appear in a
Supreme Court. This was one of her three mandatory trials to become a barrister, with access to working with Supreme Court cases. When she was finally authorized as a barrister on 27 July 1912, she was the first of the kind in Norway. Sem was also a deputy board member of the
Norwegian Association for Women's Rights and secretary of the anti-
white slave trade organization . In 1920 she was a co-founder and board member of the
Norwegian Female Academics, a member body of the
International Federation of University Women. serving as the first chairman in 1912–1916 and in 1919. From 1916 she resided in Villa Furulund at
Holmenkollen together with her mother as well as two sisters. She died in January 1950 and was buried at
Vår Frelsers gravlund. == See also ==