Clara Brett Martin
January 25, 1874 – October 30, 1923
The first woman to practise law in the British Empire — who had to get an Act of the legislature just to be allowed to try.
The Story
Clara Brett Martin was born in Toronto on January 25, 1874, the youngest of twelve children in a family that prized education; she took a mathematics degree at Trinity College while still in her teens. When she petitioned the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1891 to become a law student, she was refused — the benchers ruled the statute permitted only men.
Martin fought back through the legislature, which passed an Act declaring that 'person' in the Law Society's statute included women. After years of articling and examinations, each step a public controversy, she was called to the bar on February 2, 1897 — the first woman lawyer in the British Empire. She practised in Toronto for the rest of her life and died there on October 30, 1923. Every woman at a Canadian bar since has walked through the door she forced open.
Martin fought back through the legislature, which passed an Act declaring that 'person' in the Law Society's statute included women. After years of articling and examinations, each step a public controversy, she was called to the bar on February 2, 1897 — the first woman lawyer in the British Empire. She practised in Toronto for the rest of her life and died there on October 30, 1923. Every woman at a Canadian bar since has walked through the door she forced open.
- Buried
- St. James Cemetery, Toronto