History of the Association of Women Solicitors

The Association of Women Solicitors has come a long way since Carrie Morrison, the first woman solicitor, was admitted on 18 December 1922.

The organisation was originally known as the 1919 Club, named following the enactment of the Sex Discrimination Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, which first permitted women to join the legal profession as solicitors or barristers. This initially informal grouping of young female articled clerks grew into the AWS we know today.

1923 is generally regarded as being the AWS' founding year. The AWS' first public function was the entertaining of a group of American women lawyers in July 1930, and its first Annual Dinner was held in 1934.

In Manchester, a group of young women formed a regional group under the auspices of the national AWS in the early 1980s. Some of its early members included Cath Jones, Beverley Phillpotts, Diana Craven and Katherine Mellor. In 2008, the Manchester AWS celebrated its 25th anniversary.