List of first women lawyers and judges in Europe

• Erifili Bezhani (1952): First Albanian female lawyer. She graduated and practiced law in France before being convicted by Albania's Communist Regime. • Natasha Sheshi: First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Albania (1992) • Flutura Kona: First (female) appointed as the State Attorney General of Albania (2001) • Ina Rama (b. 1972): First female to serve as the Prosecutor General of Albania (2007–2012) • : First female justice appointed as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Albania (2008–2013) • Erinda Ballanca: First female to serve as the Ombudsman for Albania (2017) • Vitore Tushë: First female to serve as the Acting President of the Constitutional Court of Albania (2019) == Andorra ==

• Rosa Ferràndiz: First (female) notary in Andorra (1998) • Sonia Artal Conesa (2013): First female lawyer of Spanish nationality to practice in Andorra • Maria Teresa Armengol: First female to serve as a member of the Superior Council of Justice of Andorra (2005) • Laurence Burgogue-Larsen: First female appointed as a Judge (2012) and President (2014) of the Constitutional Court of Andorra • Canòlic Mingorance: First female elected in respect of Andorra to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2025) == Austria ==

: First female lawyer in Austria (1922)|alt= • Marianne Beth (1928): First female to earn a law degree (1921) and become a lawyer in Austria • Johanna Kundmann and Gertrude Jaklin (née Sollinger): First female judges in Austria (1947) • Margarete Haimberger-Tanzer: First female to serve as a criminal judge in Austria (1950) • Gerda Meissl: First female prosecutor in Austria (upon becoming a public prosecutor in Vienna in 1951) • Ingrid Petrik: First female to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Austria (1987) • Lisbeth Lass: First female appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Austria (1994) • Christine Stix-Hackl: First Austrian (female) to serve as the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (2000) • Maria Berger: First Austrian female to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Justice (2003) • Birgit Langer: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Austria (2007–2011) • Brigitte Bierlein: First female to serve as the Advocate General in the Procurator's Office at the Supreme Court (1990), Vice-President (2002) and President of the Constitutional Court of Austria (2018) • Margit Kraker: First female to serve as the Head of the General Procuratorate of Austria (2023) == 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 ==

: First female to earn a doctorate in law in Belgium (1888)|alt= • 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==

• Mira Gavrilovich: First female lawyer and judge in Bosnia and Herzegovina when the country was part of Yugoslavia • Azra Omeragić: First female to serve as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the post-Dayton period (1998) • Meddžida Kreso: First female to serve as a Judge and President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2004) • Ljiljana Mijović: First female in respect of Bosnia to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2004) • Amila Kunosic-Ferizovic: First female to serve as the President of the Bar Association of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2008) • Gordana Tadic: First female to serve as the Chief State Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2019) == 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 ==

• Mara Ilić (1929): First female lawyer in Croatia • Miroslava Vekić and Erika Kocijančić: First females to serve as Judges of the Supreme Court of Croatia upon the court's creation in 1990 • Nina Vajić: First female in respect of Croatia to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (1998) • Emilija Rajić (1973) and Jasna Omejec (1985): First females to serve as Judges of the Constitutional Court of Croatia (1999) • Jasna Omejec (1985): First female to serve as the Acting President of the High Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia (2008) • Tamara Laptoš: First female to serve as the Director of the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (a specialized body within the State's Attorney Office of the Republic of Croatia; 2014) • Zlata Hrvoj-Šipek: First female to serve as the Attorney General of the State's Attorney Office of the Republic of Croatia (2020) • Tamara Capeta: First Croatian (female) to serve as the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (2023) • Iva Markotić Bagarić: First female to serve as the President of the Croatian Bar Association (2024) == Cyprus ==

• Stella Soulioti (1951): First female lawyer in Cyprus. She later became the first female Attorney General of Cyprus. • Gönül Başaran Erönen (1975): First female judge in Cyprus (upon her appointment as a Judge of the District Court of Cyprus in 1980) • Efi Papadopoulou (1970): First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Cyprus (2004) • Persephone Panagi: First female to serve as the President of the Supreme Court of Cyprus (2020) 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 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 • Zdeňka Patschová: 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: 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) • Eliška Wagnerová: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic (1998-2002) • Michaela Bejčková, Miluše Došková, Lenka Kaniová, Lenka Matyášová, Milada Tomková, Eliška Cihlářová, Brigita Chrastilová, Dagmar Nygrínová, Marie Souckova, Marie Turkova, Ludmila Valentová and Marie Žišková: 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 Šimáčková: 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 • Marita Petersen is referred to as the first female lawyer in the Faroe Islands by various sources. She may have actually been a lagman or lawspeaker, which is a Scandinavian legal office. == 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) • 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) • Maarit Saarni-Rytkölä (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) • Ritva Hyöky (1944): 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). 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 sit on the High Court of Justice of France (1974) • Martine Luc-Thaler (1976): First female to sit among the members of the International Court of Justice for oral proceedings (1982) • Simone Rozès (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. 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 ==

• Anita Augsburg: First woman to earn her Doctor of Law in 1897 in Germany, though she was not allowed to practice law until after the law changed in 1922. • Maria Otto (1922): First female lawyer in Germany • Maria Hagemeyer (1924): First female judge in Germany (1927-1928) after having served as an Assessor in Prussia • Erna Scheffler (1925): First female to serve as a Judge of the German Federal Constitutional Court (1951) • Gisela Niemeyer (c. 1950s): First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Finances in the German Federal Republic (1973) and Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court (1977) • Elisabeth Steup: First female to serve as the President of the Federal Patent Court of Germany (1986) • Jutta Limbach (c. 1962): First female appointed as the President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (1994–2002) • Iris Ebling: First female to serve as President of the Federal Finance Court of Germany (1999) • Ninon Colneric: First female judge from Germany to sit on the European Court of Justice (2000) • Juliane Kokott: First German (female) to serve as the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (2003) • Renate Jaeger: First female in respect of Germany to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2004) • Ingrid Schmidt: First female to serve as President of the Federal Labour Court of Germany (2005) • Monika Harms (c. 1970s): First female appointed as the Attorney General of Germany (2006-2011) • Marion Eckertz-Höfer: First female to serve as President of the Federal Administrative Court of Germany (2007) • Sabine Knierim: First German (female) to serve as a Judge of the United Nations Appeals Tribunal (2009) • Bettina Limperg: First female to serve as the President of the Federal (Supreme) Court of Germany (2014) • Ulrike Paul: First female to serve as a member of the BRAK Presidium (2015) • Edith Kindermann (1992): First female lawyer to serve as the President of the German Bar Association (2019) == Greece ==

• Efharis Petridou (1925): First female lawyer in Greece (upon registering with the Athens Bar Association) • Penelope Athanasopoulou: First female judge in Greece [upon her appointment as a Judge of the Council of State (Supreme Administrative Court) of Greece in 1958] • Anna Athanasiadou: First female areopagite in Greece (upon her appointment to the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece in 1980) • Athanasia Tsampasi: First female to serve as President of the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece (2011) • Eleni Diakomanoli: First female to serve as the General State Commissioner of the Administrative Courts of Greece (2011) • Efterpi Kutzamani: First female to serve as the President of the Council of State (Supreme Administrative Court) of Greece (2018) == 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 ==

• Auður Auðuns (1935): First female lawyer in Iceland. She was also the first female to earn a law degree from the University of Iceland. • Rannveig Þorsteinsdóttir: First female to practice law before the Supreme Court of Iceland (1959) • Auður Þorbergsdóttir: First female judge in Iceland (1963) • Guðrún Erlendsdóttir: First female appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Iceland (c. 1986) and its President (c. 1991) • Þórunn Guðmundsdóttir: First female to serve as the Chairperson of the Icelandic Bar Association (1995) • Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir: First female in respect of Iceland to serve as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2023) == Ireland ==

• Frances Kyle and Averil Deverell (1921): First female barristers admitted to the Irish Bar [Ireland] • Mary Dorothea Heron and Helena Early (1923): First female solicitors in Ireland • Frances Moran (1924): First female to take silk and become a senior counsel in Ireland (1941) • Lady Arnott, Lady Redmond, Lady Dockrell, and Miss Palles: First women appointed as Justices of the Peace in Ireland (1920) • Kathleen Butler Garret (1930): First American female admitted to the Irish Bar • Eileen Kennedy (1947): First female judge in Ireland (1964) • Moya Quinlan (1946): First female to serve as President of the Law Society of Ireland (1968) • Susan Denham (1971): First female appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland (1992) and serve and its Chief Justice (2011–2017) • Mella Carroll (1976; Northern Ireland Bar): First female appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Ireland (1980) • Moya Quinlan: First female to serve as the President of the Law Society of Ireland (1980) • Catherine McGuinness (1977): First female appointed as a Judge of the Circuit Court of Ireland (1994) • Fidelma O’Kelly Macken: First female solicitor appointed as a Judge of the Circuit Court of Ireland (2001) • Maureen Harding Clark: First female to serve as the Director of Public Prosecutions in Ireland (2011) • Mary Faherty: First (Irish) female to serve as the President of the European Court of Human Rights (2022) == Italy ==

• Giustina Rocca: First female to act as a lawyer in an Italian court (1500) • Maria Pellegrina Amoretti: First Italian female to earn a law degree (1777) • Lidia Poët (1883) and Teresa Labriola (1919): First female lawyers in Italy respectively • Letizia De Martino, Ada Lepore, Maria Gabriella Luccioli, Graziana Calcagno Pini, Raffaella D'Antonio, Annunziata Izzo, Giulia De Marco and Emilia Capelli: First female judges in Italy (1965). Luccioli later became the first female President of the Chamber of Cassation of Italy (2008). • Brigida Monte: First female to serve as a magistrate of the Court of Audit of Italy (1971) • Fernanda Contri: First female to be appointed as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Italy (1996) and serve as its Vice-President (2005) • Lucia Serena Rossi: First Italian female to serve as a Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union (2017) • Marta Cartabia: First female to serve as the President of the Constitutional Court of Italy (2019) • Maria Rosaria San Giorgio: First female elected by the Court of Cassation as a Judge of the Constitutional Court of Italy (2020) • Margherita Cassano: First female to serve as the Vice-President (2020) and President (2023) of the Supreme Court of Cassation of Italy • Ida Caracciolo: First Italian female to serve as Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (2020) • Oana Andreea Mecleş: First Romanian (female) judge in Italy (2021) • Maria Masi: First female to serve as the President of the National Bar Council of Italy [Consiglio Nazionale Forense] (2022) == Kosovo ==