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private practice wasn't easy. The Law
Society made things difficult for her by not inviting her to official functions such as their annual dinner, and tried to enforce a dress code on her. Her main sources of clients were the Jewish community and women with financial interests. She also represented several hotels and publicans' associations on matters related to prohibition - she was one of the few nineteenth-century New Zealand feminists who didn't support temperance.
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The Ethel
Benjamin Prize for women was established in 1997 by the New Zealand Law Foundation, to mark the centenary of the admission of Ethel Benjamin as New Zealand's first woman barrister and solicitor. As of 2007 the $ 20,000 NZD prize is awarded annually, to two female recipients. Past recipients
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was passed in 1919. Between the wars, the De Costas lived in southern France and Italy. Alfred died just before the Second World War started, but Ethel continued to work as a lawyer in London. Ethel was accidentally struck by a motor vehicle, and died of a fractured skull at Mount Vernon
Hospital in
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It was only yesterday that I was asked to undertake this pleasant task, and while deeply sensible to the compliment paid to me, I was somewhat diffident about taking so much upon myself at so short a notice. But I knew that little would be expected of me and even if I succeeded in talking nonsense,
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Despite receiving adverse treatment from the Otago
District Law Society at the time, such as restricted access to the society's library, she opened and ran a successful legal practice in Princes Street, primarily as a solicitor. Her cases included wife abuse, divorce, and adoption. Developing her
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It is true that the Legal
Profession was not then open to women, and that the franchise had not yet been granted, but I had faith that a colony so liberal as our own would not long tolerate such purely artificial barriers. I therefore entered on my studies with a light heart, feeling sure that I
126:'s first female lawyer. On 17 September 1897, she became the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court, representing a client for the recovery of a debt. She was the second woman in the Empire to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor, two months after
146:, to Lizzie Mark and Henry Benjamin. Lizzie and Henry had emigrated from England in the late 1860s. Harry became a Dunedin sharebroker. The family were Orthodox Jews. Benjamin was the eldest in a family of five girls and two boys. She attended
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Benjamin graduated in July 1897, having achieved outstanding marks in her course. The Female Law
Practitioners Act was passed in 1896 and on 10 May 1897 she was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
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In 1906 Ethel
Benjamin moved to Christchurch and managed a restaurant at the International Exhibition. She married Alfred Mark Ralph De Costa, a Wellington sharebroker, in 1907, and moved to live with him in
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Ethel
Benjamin was a founding member of the Dunedin branch of the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children (founded in 1899) and was its honorary solicitor.
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from 1883 to 1892. While there, she won the "Victoria" prize for order, diligence and punctuality, and also an
Education Board Junior Scholarship.
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across the road from the
University of Otago Central Library, was named after the lawyer, during Suffrage Centennial Year 1993.
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Upon her graduation, Benjamin was asked to speak on behalf of all the graduates. She is reported to have said:
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the charitable verdict would be, 'Oh well, it is all that can be expected of a woman.'
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for an LLB degree, not knowing if she would be able to practice law on completion:
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In 1892 Benjamin won a university scholarship, and in 1893 she enrolled at the
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should not long be debarred from the use of any degree I might obtain.
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316:"5th Annual Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address"
501:Ethel Benjamin, New Zealand's first woman lawyer
188:Ethel Benjamin (centre front) at the opening of
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521:New Zealand Law Foundation Scholarship details
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531:Ethel Benjamin address - early women lawyers
576:People educated at Otago Girls' High School
361:. Bridget Williams Books. pp. 75–77.
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526:Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand - Jews
504:(BA(Hons)). Dunedin: University of Otago.
122:(19 January 1875 – 14 October 1943) was
516:University of Otago Law Faculty welcome
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611:20th-century New Zealand women lawyers
471:. Dunedin City Council. Archived from
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389:"Benjamin, Ethel Rebecca 1875 - 1943"
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286:First women lawyers around the world
393:Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
314:Mayhew, Judith (4 September 2001).
357:Macdonald, Charlotte, ed. (1991).
223:Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act
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217:Ethel De Costa managed a bank in
113:New Zealand's first female lawyer
586:20th-century New Zealand lawyers
581:19th-century New Zealand lawyers
234:, England, on 14 October 1943.
601:19th-century New Zealand women
448:The Law Foundation New Zealand
16:New Zealand lawyer (1875–1943)
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606:20th-century New Zealand Jews
596:19th-century New Zealand Jews
387:Brown, Carol (22 June 2007).
359:The Book of New Zealand Women
444:"Ethel Benjamin Scholarship"
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591:19th-century women lawyers
571:University of Otago alumni
536:Ethel Benjamin Scholarship
469:"Street names and plaques"
418:Monumental Stories website
89:University of New Zealand
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254:Ethel Benjamin Place, a
204:Marriage and relocations
148:Otago Girls' High School
320:New Zealand Law Society
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120:Ethel Rebecca Benjamin
498:Brown, Carol (1985).
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142:Benjamin was born in
97:Lawyer, businesswoman
566:Lawyers from Dunedin
160:University of Otago
424:on 13 October 2007
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190:Dunedin Law Courts
128:Clara Brett Martin
245:Claudia Geiringer
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102:Years active
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561:New Zealand Jews
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291:Ivy Williams
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60:(1943-10-14)
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556:1943 deaths
551:1875 births
479:12 November
247:(2001) and
215:World War I
124:New Zealand
545:Categories
368:0908912048
298:References
293:in England
277:Eliza Orme
256:cul-de-sac
211:Wellington
138:Early life
453:7 January
428:1 October
398:1 October
325:1 October
232:Middlesex
228:Northwood
219:Sheffield
105:1897–1943
72:, England
70:Middlesex
66:Northwood
262:See also
251:(2004).
243:include
81:De Costa
281:England
192:in 1902
144:Dunedin
47:Dunedin
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238:Legacy
132:Canada
272:India
481:2009
455:2021
430:2007
400:2007
363:ISBN
327:2007
55:Died
40:Born
279:in
270:in
130:of
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
