b'Trailblazing womenIn 1817 George Allen became the first person to beginin shops. She enjoyed the physical exercise involved in retail legal training in Australia. It would be another eighty yearssales work and described it as a welcome respite from the before a woman would receive the same opportunity.rigours of study. Grata Flos Matilda Greig was that trailblazer when she entered the faculty of law at the University of MelbourneOn graduating in 1940, Smith accepted a position as an in 1897. At the time, women did not share the samearticled clerk with Hedderwick Fookes & Alston the first rights as men to practise law in Australia. That milestonefemale lawyer to join any of the founding firms of Allens. occurred in 1903 when the Womens Disabilities RemovalIn 1941 Smith also became the first female president of Bill (also known as the Flos Greig Enabling Bill) was passedthe Law Students Society of Victoria it would be another in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, six years after Greigthirty-eight years before a woman held this position again. entered university. Smith also edited the Law Students Societys journal and tutored in jurisprudence in place of a professor who was on Despite the pioneering efforts of women such as Greig andwar service.Ada Evans (who started her studies after Greig, but became Australias first female law graduate), it was not until menArthur Robinson & Co employed its first female articled left for the Second World War that women were givenclerk, Julie Hunt, in 1947. North of the Murray River things professional opportunities, and the number of womenwere slower. Frances Cleary joined Feez Ruthning & Co in enrolling to study law began to increase.1961 and Anne Hogan became the first female articled clerk at Allen Allen & Hemsley in 1963. Among those enrolments was Airlie Smith, an exceptional scholar who caused quite a stir when, in 1940, she becameBy 1942 women represented nearly a quarter of enrolments the first woman awarded the coveted Supreme Court Prizeat Melbourne Law School. Women now represent 60 per and EJB Nunn Scholarship for the top law student in Victoria.cent of lawyers at Allens and 37 per cent of partners.Smith supported herself throughout her studies by working Civilisation depends on peace. When the war is over, we shall allhave to do our best to bring about a better international understanding. Airlie Smith, the firms first female articled clerk118'