The Early Years

ENDNOTES

1. William Renwick Riddell, "Women as Practitioners of Law", Journal of Comparative Legislation 18 (1918) 201 at page 206.
   
   
2. The Globe and Mail, (Untitled) 1923, WLAO Archives, Vol.1, page 37.
   
   
3. WLAO Archives, Constance Backhouse, Petticoats & Prejudice, Toronto: The Osgoode Society, 1991, at page 321.
   
   
4. Cameron Harvey, "Women in Law in Canada", 1 Manitoba Law Journal, (1970) 8 at page 28.
   
   
5. The Lawyers Club was formed in 1922, the Ontario branch of the Canadian Bar Association in 1907.
   
   
6. Communication with Judy Hendy, December 20, 1999.
   
   
7. Toronto Star Weekly, "Portias who are going places", June 4, 1938.
   
   
8. Eileen Mitchell Thomas, "Sisters in Law", The Gazette, Law Society of Upper Canada, Vol.6, December, 1972, in which she quotes from an address given by Mr. Justice Wright to the WLAO the son of the third woman called to the Ontario Bar, Geraldine Robinson Wright.
   
   
9. Toronto Daily Star, "Lady Lawyers gather to honour Dr. Hoyle", April 25, 1925; Mary Appleby, "The entry of women into the profession of law and their hopes", Obiter Dicta, January 17, 1934.
   
   
10. The two co-founders addressed the tenth anniversary celebration, held on April 13, 1929: see Toronto Daily Star, "Women Lawyers face future hopefully", April 15, 1929; The Globe and Mail, "Queens of the Bar gather at banquet", April 15, 1929; and WLAO Archives, Vol.2, page 40. Joy Kennedy Clarry, when elected President of the Women's Law Association in 1956 recounted stories told by her aunt, Laura Denton Duff of the inaugural meeting in 1919. "Joy Kennedy elected head of law group", unreferenced newspaper article, WLAO Archives, Vol.6, May, 1956; Florence Schill, "Persistent Clara Brett Martin won battle with Benchers", The Globe and Mail, March 12, 1955.
    
    
11. The close connection between student and practitioner members remained until Osgoode Hall Law School went to York University in 1968 when the greater geographic distance weakened communications between students and practitioners.
    
    
12. Communication with Laura Legge, December 21, 1999.
    
    
13. "Told the Lady Lawyers he admired their pluck", Globe and Mail, (probably 1927) WLAO Archives, Vol. 1. Four years later, in 1931, when the women lawyers in Ontario numbered 32, there was a mere 23 in the rest of Canada, see Cameron Harvey, "Women in Law in Canada", 1 Manitoba Law Journal, 1970, at pages 33-34.
    
    
14. Backhouse, op cit, at page 314.
    
    
15. Mary Laughton, Marjorie Brigden Henry, Elva Dunn, Grace Gordon and Lily Sherizen, to name a few.
    
    
16. See "Crossing the Bar: A Century of Women's Experience 'Upon the Rough and Troubled Seas of Legal Practice' in Ontario", Toronto: The Law Society of Upper Canada Archives, 1993.
    
    
17. Communication with Madam Justice Van Camp, December 20, 1999; Interview notes with Margaret Campbell, by Dana Richardson, WLAO Archives, June 20, 1989. Since 1981, the WLAO and the Lawyers Club occasionally hold joint meetings.
    
    
18. WLAO Archives, Vol.1, at page 19.
    
    
19. "Women in Law", Vol.33, MacLean's Magazine, April 20, 1920, p. 74.
    
    
20. WLAO Archives, Vol. 1 at page 44.
    
    
21. Grace Hunter, in a 1926 conversation with the Globe carefully stressed that "with the exception of the annual dance, there was no jollification of any kind" amongst law students, WLAO Archives, Vol.1, page 37.
    
    
22. WLAO Archives, Vol.2, June 11, 1927.
    
    
23. By contrast, general membership dues at that time were probably $2.00 per year.
    
    
24. The collection is also highly valued as a research tool in locating sources and providing access to materials, since no index exists for Canadian newspapers prior to 1978.
    
    
25. Palen would become the first woman Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court in 1950.
    
    
26. Toronto Daily Star, "Training for Portia roles at Osgoode Hall", January 22, 1927. Mary McNulty, so described by the Ottawa Citizen, "First Woman Lawyer Here is Charmingly Feminine", (probably 1918), had been the first woman on the debating team at Osgoode Hall. She became Mary Fix, Reeve of Toronto Township, and later the Warden of Peel County, see Harvey, op cit.
    
    
27. Helena Normanton, Letter to the Editor of the New York Times dated January 12, 1925, WLAO Archives, Vol. 2 at page 1.
    
    
28. WLAO Archives, (undated, circa 1925), Vol.2.
    
    
29. Ruby M. Wigle, "Sisters in Law", Canadian Bar Review, 5 (1927) 419 at 421.
    
    
30. The Globe and Mail, (Untitled) 1923, WLAO Archives, Vol.1, page 37.
    
    
31. Toronto Star Weekly, op cit, June 4, 1938.
    
    
32. Toronto Daily Star, op cit, April 25, 1925.
    
    
33. The Globe and Mail, "Portias at a party", (probably fall, 1927), WLAO Archives, Vol.2, page 33.
    
    
34. Wigle, op cit, at page 420.
    
    
35. A fuller study, by marital status, year of call and professional status was also done in 1949, see WLAO Archives, Vol. 5.
    
    
36. The Globe and Mail, "Fourteen graduate, four practising law", August, 1933, WLAO Archives, Vol.3, page 2.
    
    
37. See "Touchstones for Change: Equality, Diversity and Accountability -- The Report on Gender Equality in the Legal Profession", Ottawa: Canadian Bar Association, August 1993; "Transitions in the Ontario Legal Profession: A Survey of Lawyers Called to the Bar Between 1975 and 1990: A Report of the Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto: May 1991; F.M. Kay, N. Dautovich and C. Marlor, "Barriers and Opportunities within Law: Women in a Changing Legal Profession: A Longitudinal Survey of Ontario Lawyers, 1990-1996: A Report to the Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto: Nov. 1996.
    
    
38. Personal communications with the writer in her capacity as WLAO Archivist, 1994-98.
    
    
39. The Globe and Mail, (Untitled) 1923, WLAO Archives, Vol.1, page 37; Toronto Star Weekly, op cit, June 4, 1938. The Telegram, "Career field wide for modern miss", April 5, 1951.
    
    
40. Toronto Daily Star, op cit, April 25, 1925. Interestingly, Harvey found in 1970 that the women lawyers married to lawyers held overwhelmingly positive attitudes toward their profession, see Harvey, op cit at page 14.
    
    
41. The Globe and Mail, "Government employs three women lawyers", 1930, WLAO Archives, Vol.3, page 34.
    
    
42. Interview notes with Margaret Campbell, by Dana Richardson, WLAO Archives, June 20, 1989; Address given by Margaret Campbell to WLAO, December, 1994.
    
    
43. Mary Appleby, "The Entry of Women into the Profession of Law and their Hopes", Obiter Dicta, January 17, 1934, WLAO Archives, Vol.5.
    
    
44. WLAO Archives Vols. 1,2,3,5. Toronto newspaper reports of WLAO meetings in the 30's typically gave very limited information on the purpose or contents of meetings, but the names of attendees were extensively noted, in the style common to the womens' or society pages.
    
    
45. "The jobless white-collar woman: By one of them", MacLean's Magazine, May 1, 1932, page 16.
    
    
46. WLAO Archives.
    
    
47. Presentation of Margaret Campbell to WLAO, December, 1994. "WLAO President is Marion Darte", 1942, WLAO Archives, Vol.3, page 13. The "Report of the Committee on Public Welfare in regard to Juvenile Delinquency and Domestic Relations Problems" survives. Letter from Eileen Mitchell Thomas to the President of WLAO, January 18, 1965, WLAO Archives, Vol.7.
    
    
48. Jean Oldrieve of St. Thomas, "Woman lawyer wins gold medal", Globe and Mail, June, 1945, WLAO Archives, Vol.3, page 18.
    
    
49. Eileen Mitchell Thomas, op cit, January 18, 1965.
    
    
50. Judge Helen Kinnear, Margaret Hyndman, Beatrice Lyons, Marjorie Henry, Mary Lamont, and June Ryan presented.
    
    
51. The speakers were Helen Rodgers from Buffalo, Marie Wilson, Jean O'Rourke, Margaret Perney, Mary Gallagher, and Marjorie Henry.
    
    
52. WLAO Archives, Vol.3, page