Clara Brett Martin. Born Toronto, Ontario circa 1874.  Died October 30, 1923.  After receiving an honours BA from Trinity College in Toronto in 1888, The Law Society of Upper Canada refused to accept her as a student. Enlisting the help of notable and forceful people of the day, including, Dr Emily Stowe, Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat and Lady Aberdeen, to force legislation that would allow women as barristers.  In 1897 she became the first woman lawyer in the British Empire. Even though she was licensed she did not often enter court. Her presence in the court room caused too much of a ruckus. It would not be until the middle of the century that women would be able to comfortably represent their profession in the courts.

Helen Alice Kinnear . Born Cayuga, Ontario May 6, 1894. She graduated and was called to the Ontario bar, to become a lawyer, in 1920. She practiced law in Port Colborne, Ontario until 1943, when she was appointed county-court judge for Haldimand County. In 1947 she was appointed judge of the Juvenile Court. She was the first woman in the British Commonwealth to be created a Kings Counsel and the first in the Commonwealth appointed to a county-court bench and the first lawyer in Canada to appear as counsel before the Supreme Court in Canada in 1935. In 1993 the Canadian Post Office issued a commemorative stamp to honour the achievements of this woman Lawyer.