List of first women lawyers and judges in Asia

• Hakime Mustemendi and Enise Imam: First female prosecutors in Afghanistan (c. 1960s) • Jameela Farooq Rooshna: First female judge in Afghanistan (1969) • Kimberley Motley (2008): First foreign female lawyer in Afghanistan • Maria Bashir (1994): First female Prosecutor General in Afghanistan (2009) • Rehana Popal (2013): First Afghan-born female to practice as a barrister in England and Wales • Anisa Rasooli: First female to sit on the Supreme Court of Afghanistan (2018) • Ghizaal Haress: First female to serve as the Ombudsman of Afghanistan (2019) == Armenia ==

• Alvina Gyulumyan (b. 1956): First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Armenia (1996) and Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Armenia (2003) • Eva Darbinyan: First female appointed as a Judge of the Criminal and Military Appeal Court in Armenia (c. 1999) • Larisa Alaverdyan: First (female) Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia (2004) • Elizaveta Danielyan: First female to serve as a Judge of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation of Armenia (2009) • Melania Arustamyan: First female to serve as the Head of the Public Defender's Office of the RA Chamber of Advocates (2015) • Ani Mkhitaryan and Ruzanna Hakobyan: First females appointed to the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia (2018) • Lilit Tadevosyan: First female to serve as the President of the Court of Cassation of Armenia (2022) • Anna Vardapetyan: First female to serve as the Prosecutor General of Armenia (2022) == Azerbaijan ==

• Bilqeyis Haşımzadə (c. 1940s): First female lawyer in Azerbaijan • Ayna Sultanova (1895-1938): First female to serve as the Prosecutor General of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1933–1934) • Sona Salmanova: First female judge in Azerbaijan (upon her becoming a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan in 1998), as well as the first female Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan (2005) • Südaba Hasanova (b. 1947) (1971): First female appointed as the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan (2000–2005) • Saadat Rustamova and Lala Huseynova: First female district prosecutors in independent Azerbaijan (2020) Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) • Narine Narimanyan: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Artsakh (2012) == Bahrain ==

• Fatima Ibrahim Al-Dalal: First female to earn a law degree in Bahrain (1970) • Lulwa Al Awadhi and Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa (1979): First female lawyers in Bahrain • Zahra Ahmed Khalaf: First female judge in Bahrain (upon her appointment as a Judge of the High Civil Court of Bahrain in 2006) • Sheikha Noura bint Abdullah Al Khalifa: First female to hold the position of Chief Prosecutor in Bahrain (2007) • Jamila Ali Salman: First female in Bahrain to serve as a Public Prosecutor in the Juvenile Courts (2006), Chief Public Prosecutor with the rank of judge in the High Court (2009), and judicial inspector (2019) • Dhouha Ibrahim al-Zayani: First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bahrain (2007-2016) • Fatima Faisal Hubail: First female appointed as a Judge of the Lower Civil Court of Bahrain (2008) and a member of the Supreme Judicial Council of Bahrain (2013) == Bangladesh ==

• Salma Sobhan (1959): First Bangladesh female barrister called to the English Bar • Mehrunnessa Khatun (1961): First female advocate in Bangladesh • Rabia Bhuiyan (1967): First female barrister in Bangladesh • Kamrun Nahar Laily (1972): First female judge in Bangladesh (1975), as well as the first female District Judge (1991). She is also the first female High Court Judge (2000) and Justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh (2011). • Rehana Khanam: First female Public Prosecutor in Bangladesh (1991) • Tania Amir (1990): First Hindu female judge in Bangladesh (upon her being appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 2010) • Jesmin Ara: First female solicitor in Bangladesh (2018) • Sultana Tafadar: First British-born Bangladeshi female to serve as a Queen's Counsel in Great Britain (2022) == Bhutan ==

• Tashi Chhozom: First female judge in Bhutan, as well as the first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Bhutan (2012) • Gagey Lhamu: First female to serve as a Judge of the High Court of Bhutan • Pem Tshering (2014): First Bhutanese (female) member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in the United Kingdom. She is also the first Bhutanese (female) lawyer to practice international law. • Sonam Dechen Wangchuck (Princess Ashi): First (female) to serve as President of the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law (first and currently only law school in Bhutan; 2017) and President of the Bar Council of Bhutan (2017) == Brunei ==

• Hayati binti Mohammad Salleh (1980): First Brunei Malay woman called to the English Bar. She later became the first female to serve as a judge in Brunei (1984), Chief Magistrate, Chief Registrar/Intermediate Court Judge (1998-1991), Justice of the Supreme Court of Brunei (2001), and Attorney General of Brunei (2009). • Nur ‘Azizah binti Dato Seri Paduka Haji Ahmad: First female to serve as the President of the Law Society of Brunei (2024) == Cambodia ==

• Bùi Thị Cẩm (c. 1936): First female lawyer in Indochina [which included Cambodia and Laos] • Kim Lun Khun, Thavry Neth and Thun Leapphy Muong (1995): According to the registry of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, they were the first female lawyers to register in October 1995. • Kim Sathavy: First female magistrate in Cambodia (1982). In 2006, she became the first female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Cambodia. • Sum Nipha: First female to serve as a member of the Constitutional Council of Cambodia (2004) • Dame Silvia Cartwright and Katinka Lahuis: First females to serve as International Judges (Trial and Pre-Trial Chambers respectively) of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (2006) • Lok Chumteav Chea Leang: First female to serve as the Attorney General of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Cambodia (2009) • Florence Mumba: First female to serve as an International Judge (Supreme Court Chamber) of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (2010) == China ==

• Flora Rosenberg: First female (a Frenchwoman) to practice law in China (c. 1921) • Tcheng Yu-hsiu (1926): First Chinese female to earn a law degree (1925) and become a lawyer in China. She was also the first Chinese female judge (due to serving on a French concession court during the 1920s), as well as the first female president of a local court (1927; though she did not take office). • Kathleen Hoahing (1927): First female solicitor in China • Ma Yuan: First female to serve as the Vice President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (1985) • Xian Qiuqin: First Dai female to practice as a lawyer and serve as the president of a court in China • Wei Qihong (c. 1990s): First female lawyer of the Va nationality in China • Patty Yuen (1992): First female lawyer of Chinese descent in the Netherlands • Gu Kailai: First Chinese (female) lawyer to win a civil case in the United States (c. 1990s) • Hu Kehui: First female prosecutor in China (upon becoming the Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 1998) • Xue Hanqin: First Chinese female appointed as a Judge of the International Court of Justice (2010) • Yang Jin (1985): First female lawyer in Tibet Hong Kong • Teo Soon Kim (1927): First female barrister in Hong Kong (admitted to practice law in Hong Kong in 1932) • Patricia Loseby (1953): First female admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong • Ellen Li: First female Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong (1948) • Betty Searle: First female magistrate in Hong Kong (1956) • Maria Ip: First female appointed as an Assistant Crown Counsel in Hong Kong (1976) • Marjorie Chui: First female Chinese judge in Hong Kong (1976) • Helen Lo: First female appointed as a District Judge (1986) • Jacqueline Leong: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Bar Association (1992) • Doreen Le Pichon (United Kingdom Bar, 1969; Hong Kong Bar, 1972; New York Bar, 1987; US District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, 1991): First female appointed as a High Court Judge (1995) and subsequently as a Justice of Appeal Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong (2000) • Anna Lai Yuen-kee: First female public prosecutor elevated to Senior Counsel in Hong Kong (2016) • Baroness Hale (1969) and Beverley McLachlin (1969): First females appointed as Non-Permanent Judges of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (2018) • Melissa Kaye Pang: First female lawyer appointed as the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong (2018) • Susan Kwan: First female appointed as Vice President of the Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong (2019) • Maggie Yang Mei-kei: First female to serve as the Director of Public Prosecutions for Hong Kong (2021) Macau • Amélia António: First female to practice law in Macau. She also founded the Macau Lawyers Association in 1991. • Linxiao Yun (1993): First Chinese female barrister in Macau • Florinda Chan and Sonia Chan: First females to serve as the Secretariat for Administration and Justice (Macau) (1999–2014 and 2014–present respectively). Sonia Chan studied law whereas Florinda Chan had a business background. • Song Man Lei: First female judge in Macau (upon her appointment as a Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Macau in 2012). In 2024, she became the first female President of the Court of Final Appeal of Macau. She was also the first female appointed as a prosecutor in Macau (1996). == Georgia ==

• Nino Kipiani: First female lawyer in Georgia • Firde Nizharadze: First female judge in Georgia (upon her appointment to the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1934). She was also the first female lawyer in Adjara. • Lamara Chorgolashvili: First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Georgia (1996) • Nana Devdarian: First female to serve as the Public Defender of Georgia (2003) • Eka Tkeshelashvili (1997): First female appointed as the Prosecutor General (or Attorney General) of Georgia (2008) • Nona Tsotsoria: First female in respect of Georgia to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2008) • Nino Gvenetadze: First female appointed as the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Georgia (2015) Abkhazia • Nelly Eshba: First female lawyer in Abkhazia • Alla Avidzba: First Abkhaz (female) judge (1975). She would later become the first female Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Abkhazia (2000). • Kvitsinia Fatima Alekseevna: First female to serve as a Judge of the Arbitration Court of Abkhazia (1997) • Liudmila Khojashvili, Diana Pilia, and Alisa Bigvava First females appointed as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Abkhazia (2018). Khojashvili is the first female to serve as the Deputy Chairperson (2018) and Chairperson (2021). South Ossetia • Dzhioeva Olga Semyonovna: First female to serve as the Prosecutor of the South Ossetian Autonomous Region (1938) == India ==

• Regina Guha: First female to file a lawsuit to become a lawyer (1916). She was denied and died before fulfilling her dream, but her case paved the way for Sudhanshubala Hazra and Cornelia Sorabji to gain the right to practice law. • Margaret Cousins: First non-native female magistrate in India (1922) • Cornelia Sorabji (1923): First female graduate from Bombay University, first woman to study law at Oxford University, first female advocate in India, and the first woman to practice law in India and Britain • Mithan Jamshed Lam (1923): First Indian woman barrister and the first Indian woman lawyer at the Bombay High Court • Omana Kunjamma: First native female magistrate in India • Anna Chandy (1926): First female judge in India (upon her appointment as a Judge of the High Court in India in 1937). She was also the first female judge in the Anglo-Saxon world, decades before Elizabeth Lane. • Violet Alva: First female lawyer to appear before a High Court in India (1944) and preside over the Rajya Sabha (1952) • Fathima Beevi (1950): First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of India (1989) • Renu Sharma (1972): First female lawyer in the India-controlled portion of Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir] • Anjali Arora (1973): First female visually impaired Supreme Court lawyer in India • Leila Seth: First female to become Chief Justice of a High Court in India (upon becoming the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 1991). She was also the first female judge on the Delhi High Court (1978). • Kim Hollis: First female of Asian (Sikh) descent to become a Queen's Counsel in the United Kingdom (2002) • Indira Jaising: First female Additional Solicitor General of India (2009) • Neeru Chadha: First Indian female to serve as a Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (2017) • Indu Malhotra: First female elevated by the Bar to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of India (2018) • B.V. Nagarathna: First female anticipated to serve as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India (2027) == Indonesia ==

: First female Judge of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (2008) • Anna Lange: First female judge when Indonesia was known as the Netherland Indies (Dutch East Indies) (1921) • Julia Adolfs (1927): First female lawyer when Indonesia was known as the Netherland Indies (Dutch East Indies) • Maria Ulfah Santoso: First Indonesian female to earn a law degree (she graduated from a Dutch university in 1933) • Ani Abas Manoppo (1952): First female lawyer in Indonesia • Thung Tjit Nio: First female state judge in Indonesia (1955) • Sunaryati Hartono (c. 1958): First woman appointed as a Judge of the Country Country Court (1956–1959) • Ny Prayitno: • Sri Widoyati Wiratmo Soekito: First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia (1968) • Ellen Soebiantoro: First female to serve as a Junior Attorney General at the Attorney General's Office of Indonesia • Marianna Sutadi: First (female) Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Indonesia (2004) • Maria Farida Indrati: First female appointed as Judge of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (2008) • Arshella Mailoa: First Indonesian (female) admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand == Iran ==

, first female lawyer in Iran (1958) • Khadijeh Keshavarz (1937), Yekaterina Saeedkhvanian (1949), and Mehrangiz Manouchehrian (1958): First female lawyers respectively in Iran. Manouchehrian is considered the first woman to actually practice law in Iran. • Meymant Chubak, Adineh Bani Mahd Rankouhi, Manijeh Farzad, Azarnoosh Malek, and Homayoundokht Homayoun: First female judges in Iran (1968) • Shirin Ebadi: First female to serve as a presiding judge in Iran (1975) • Farideh Ghairat: First female to serve as Vice President of the Iran Bar Association (c. 1970s-1980s) • Mina Torabi: First female to serve as a Deputy Prosecutor in Iran (upon becoming one for the Lorestan Province in 1983) • Roya Najafzadeh (1971): First female appointed as Assistant Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Iran (1998) • Turan Shahriari (1963): First female lawyer of a religious minority (Zoroastrian) to serve on the Board of Directors of the Iran Bar Association (2005) • Homa Davoudi Garmarudi: First female of Iranian descent appointed as a King's Counsel at the Employment Bar (UK; 2023) == Iraq ==

• Thumal the Qahraman: First Muslim female appointed as a secular administrative court judge in Islam (918 AD; Abbasid Caliphate, now Iraq) • Sabiha al-Shaykh Da'ud: First female to graduate with a law degree in Iraq (1941). She registered to become a lawyer in 1956. She and Zakia Hakki became the first female judges in Iraq respectively in 1956-1959. • Amina Al-Rahal (1943) and Adiba Taha Al-Shibli (c. 1949): First female lawyers respectively in Iraq • Rez Gardi (c. 2016): First Kurdish female lawyer in New Zealand • Zerian Karim (2020): First Kurdish-Iraqi (female) barrister called to the Bar in England and Wales • Ahlam Al-Lami: First female to serve as President of the Iraqi Bar Association (2025) == Israel ==

: First female lawyer in Israel (1930) • Rosa Ginossar (Ginzburg) (1930): First female lawyer in Israel • Eugenia Winogradov (1939): First female to serve as a judge (1948), district court judge (1953) and president of a district court (1970) in Israel • Hava Inbar: First female military judge in Israel and internationally (1969) • Miriam Ben-Porat (1945): First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel (1977) • Inbal Rubinstein: First female to serve as the Chief Public Defender of Israel (2003) • Orna Lin: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Israel Bar Association Council (2003) • Dorit Beinisch (1967): First female justice to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Israel (2006), as well as Israel's first female State Attorney (1989) • Nili Arad: First female to serve as the President of the National Labor Court in Israel (2010) • Hana Mansour-Khatib: First female appointed as a Judge of the Shari'a Court in Israel (2017) • Havi Toker: First ultra-Orthodox female judge in Israel (2018) • Sawsan Elkassem: First Druze female judge in Israel (2018) • May Alhajoj: First Bedouin female prosecutor in Israel (2021) • Gali Baharav-Miara: First female to serve as the Attorney General of Israel (2022) • Gila Canfy-Steinitz: First female of Sephardic descent appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel (2022) • Osila Abu Assad: First Arab–Muslim female appointed as a district court judge in Israel (2022) == Japan ==

See Women in law in Japan == Jordan ==

• Emily Bisharat: First female lawyer in Jordan • Taghreed Hikmat: First female judge in Jordan (1996). She later became the first Arab (female) Judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (2003–2011). In 2003, she was the first female appointed to the Higher Criminal Court by the Judicial Council. She became the first female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Jordan in 2020. • Ihsan Barakat: First female appointed as the Chief Justice of the West Amman Court of First Instance (2007), Attorney General (in Amman in 2010), and Judge of the Cassation Court of Jordan (2018) • Ohood Abdullah Majali: First female (a judge) prosecutor in Jordan (2010) • Jawaher Al-Jabour: First female to serve as a criminal court judge in Jordan • Rana Saad al-Tal: First female to run as President of the Jordan Bar Association (2025) == Kazakhstan ==

• Nagyima Idryskyzy Arykova: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Kazakh ASSR (1929–1930) • Sofia Karimova and Aspaziya Zhakipovna Zhakipova: First Kazakh females to receive Candidate of Legal Sciences degrees (1954) • Nagima Davletshievna Zhumagaliyeva: One of the first female lawyers in Kazakhstan • Aitpaeva Saule Muhanbedianovna (c. 1979): First female lawyer to achieve the rank of (prosecutor) general in Kazakhstan. She is also the first female to have headed a Prosecutor-General's Office's department for the Republic of Kazakhstan (1977). • Lyudmila Illarionovna Basharimova: First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1992) • Venera Khamitovna Seitimova: First Kazakh female to serve as a Judge of the Economic Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States (2013) • Elvira Azimova: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2023) == Korea ==

• Lee Tai-Young (1952): First female lawyer in Korea. She completed her two years of training by 1954, but did not set up a law practice until 1957. She later became a judge. • Hwang Yun-suk (passed a Judicial Examination in 1952): First female judge in South Korea (1954) • Ho Jong-suk: First female to serve as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Korea (1959) • Chosun Sook and Park Suk Kyung: First female prosecutors in South Korea (1982) • Lee Young-ae: First female to serve as a Chief Judge in South Korea (upon her appointment as the head of the Suwon District Court in 1988) • Kang Kum-sil: • Chung Hyo-sook: First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Korea (2003) • Kim Young-ran: First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea (2004) • Lee Jung-mi: First female to serve as the Acting President of the Constitutional Court of Korea (2013) • Cho Hee-jin: First female to serve as a Chief Prosecutor in South Korea (c. 2014) • Jang So-young: First female prosecutor to receive a doctorate in North Korean law (2017) • Wang Mi-yang: First female to serve as the Secretary General of the Korean Bar Association (2019) == Kuwait ==

• Badria al-Awadhi: First female to study law in Kuwait (c. 1967) • Suad al-Jassim (1973): First female lawyer in Kuwait • Lulwa Ibrahim Al-Ghanim, Hillal Waleed Al-Duraei, Roaa Essam Al-Tabtabai, Bashayer Saleh Al-Raqdan, Basheer Abdul-Jalil Shah Muhammad, Sharifa Abdulaziz Al-Mubarak, Anwar Ahmed Al Bin Ali, Sanabel Badr Al-Houti, Israa Faisal Salim, Fatima Faisal Al-Kandari, Lulwa Khaled Al-Amhoujm Fatima Abdel-Moneim Saghir, Fatima Yaqoub Al-Farhan and Farah Farid Al-Ajeel: First women appointed as judges in Kuwait (2021) • Munira Nabil Al-Waqayan: First female prosecutor to plead a case before a Kuwaiti criminal court (2021). She was one of the 22 female prosecutors appointed for the first time in Kuwait in 2014. • Munira Nabil Al-Waqayan, Noura al-Othman, Ghanima al-Sarrawi and Nouf al-Saeed: First females to serve as Public Prosecution Directors in Kuwait (2024) == Kyrgyzstan ==