“Often clients look for a male criminal lawyer and don’t even return to women.” Women's experience in the legal profession

On November 14, 1900, the French Senate allowed women to practice as lawyers. The first woman to take the lawyer's oath in France was Olga Petit, a native of the Russian Empire.

"First Section" tells the story of women in the legal profession in the Russian Empire, and the prejudices that advocates face today.

The fact that women should be admitted to the bar in the Russian Empire was first seriously discussed in 1874, when the institute of private attorneys was created - that is, representatives in civil cases and defense attorneys in criminal cases. This did not require a higher legal education, but you had to pass an exam to confirm your knowledge.

One of the first women to receive the status of a private attorney was the self-taught Elizaveta Kozmina. In 1875, she submitted a petition to the Moscow Judicial Chamber to take the exam to become a private attorney. At first Kozmina received a refusal, but then challenged it. However, in the same 1875, the Minister of Justice Constantin Palen signed a Circular prohibiting courts from issuing attorney certificates to women.

The bans did not apply everywhere. For example, in Tomsk and Irkutsk, female attorneys continued to work in criminal cases. In 1905–1907, higher legal education became available to women, making the path to the profession easier.

One of the first sworn attorneys - in fact, this is the same as a lawyer, but at the district court or judicial chamber - was Ekaterina Fleishitz. In 1907 she graduated from the Faculty of Law in Paris, and in 1909 from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. In 1909, Fleischitz received a position as a defense attorney in a criminal trial, but the trial collapsed due to the prosecutor, who left the court in protest against the participation of a woman as a defense attorney in a criminal case. Fleischitz was not allowed to take part in the trial.

In the following years, the issue of admitting women to the bar was raised many times. In 1913, State Council member Ignatius Shebeko, in his commentary on the bill “On the admission of female persons to the number of jurors and private attorneys” said:

“Representation in court, if it is allowed to a woman, will, on the one hand, in the case of the attractive appearance of this woman, be a temptation for the judges, and on the other hand, will cause criticism in society that the decision that the judges made was made by them under the influence of female charms.”

In the West, too, for a long time there was a ban on women working in the legal field. One of the first “official” lawyers was the American Arabella Mansfield. In 1869 she managed to pass the bar exam.

On November 14, 1900, the French Senate allowed women to practice as lawyers. The first woman to take the lawyer's oath in France was Olga Petit, a French lawyer born in the Russian Empire.

In Italy, the law that gave women access to almost all professions, including the legal profession, was adopted nineteen years later than in France, in 1919. Also in 1919, the path to the bar was opened for women in Great Britain.

Defenders of Soviet dissidents

In the USSR, women actively participated in the defense of dissidents. They pulled convicts out of mental hospitals; sought suspended sentences and reduced sentences; helped political prisoners whose cases other lawyers were afraid to approach.

Lawyers Dina Kaminskaya and Sofya Kallistratova defended Larisa Bogoraz, a participant in the “demonstration of the seven,” writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuliy Daniel, a participant in the demonstration for the release of political prisoners Dmitry Khaustov, and Red Army General Pyotr Grigorenko.

In 1977, Kaminskaya and Kallistratova were deprived of the right to defend political prisoners. Kallistratov - for “incorrect behavior in the trial of Natalya Gorbanevskaya.” Kaminskaya was persecuted for defending the leader of the Crimean Tatar movement Mustafa Dzhemilev and his ally, the poet Ilya Gabay.

This is what dissident and former political prisoner Vladimir Bukovsky said about human rights activists:

“She [Dina Kaminskaya] was a wonderful lawyer. But, unfortunately, there was no one in the Soviet courts to evaluate this. She had a great understanding of the legal process, and she taught me a lot too.

<…> Subsequently, of course, she was deprived of all clearances. As soon as she began speaking in two trials, she demanded the release of her clients and declared their innocence. That was enough. The purges began, there were several of them, such brave lawyers - Sofya Vasilyevna Kallistratova, Dina Isaakovna [Kaminskaya]... Two, three, four - no more. They, of course, were immediately deprived of their access, and they were no longer allowed to do such things.”

“Often clients look for a male criminal lawyer and don’t even return to women”

Even though women were admitted to the bar more than a century ago, they still face gender bias.

Lawyer Irina Antonova (name changed at the request of her interlocutor) says that during her studies she did not encounter sexism, and the graduating class of the Department of Criminal Law was approximately half female.

“ When I became a lawyer, it suddenly became clear that “criminal defense is for men , ” and that supposedly investigators and judges would not take me seriously.

Very often clients look for a male criminal lawyer, and they don’t even return to women. They are willing to pay men more. And one confidential woman asked me not to give birth until our case was over. But in working on specific cases, it seems to me that gender prejudice plays a role only in the initial stages, when you are not taken seriously because “you’re a girl.” Sometimes I take advantage of this, deliberately wearing something frivolous and pink so that the procedural opponent does not expect strong resistance or even pressure. But then, when it’s already clear who is who, gender doesn’t play any role at all,” Antonova said.

Another interlocutor of the First Department, who also asked for anonymity, said that she regularly encounters sexism in the profession - mainly from male law enforcement officers. But he doesn't take it to heart:

“I don’t care about sexism because it’s a sign of my victory. In my opinion, this is a transition to the personality of the opponent, which does not take place in a professional environment. And if in a professional dispute the interlocutor gets personal, it means that he has no substantive arguments left.

Sexism is an attempt to limit a woman in something simply because she is a woman. Such thoughts come from a limited understanding of this world, and these are, of course, the interlocutor’s problems, not mine.”