In 2019 the Bar of Ireland Law Library launched an online exhibition detailing the first one hundred years of women in the law in Ireland and the first one hundred women called to the Irish Bar. The online exhibition coincided with the centenary celebrations of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 and a physical exhibition curated in collaboration with the Honorable Society of Kings Inns and the Law Society of Ireland. This article by Vanessa Curley and Sarah Foley explores the background to how Law Library staff became involved in creating historical exhibitions, the development of a digital archive of The Bar of Ireland and curating online exhibitions to complement this. It will also discuss the benefits of such activities to the Law Library service and the wider Bar of Ireland.

In this article Kate Faulkner writes about the significant moments in the journey of women as they entered into the legal profession taking a perspective from the University of Cambridge. Her article is based around a recent exhibition that was held at the Squire Law Library as part of the Open Cambridge annual event. The aim of the exhibition was to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 and the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 which finally allowed women into the professions.

This article by Rosemary Auchmuty and Erika Rackley introduces the Women's Legal Landmarks Project. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving feminist scholars from law and other disciplines engaging in the process of identifying, researching and producing critical accounts of the key legal events, cases and statutes which represent significant turning points for women in the UK and Ireland. In creating the first scholarly anthology of legal landmarks for women spanning four jurisdictions and spanning eleven centuries, it seeks to contribute both to the development of the discipline of feminist legal history as well as societal understandings of the contribution women have made to public life and, more specifically, their involvement in the production of law, law reform and justice.

The article, by Elizabeth Dawson, provides a brief guide to some potential archival sources at IALS for gender based research, focussing particularly on the admission of women to the legal profession after the First World War and beyond. Sources will include the records of legal education, academic and membership organisations and material relating to professional practice. The article also provides guidance to researchers on using the IALS Archive.

In this short article Professor Fiona Cownie provides a brief note to accompany Elizabeth Dawson's guide to the archival sources at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London.

In the article Rosemary Auchmuty discusses the nature of, and the approach to, her research into the life of Gwyneth Bebb who in 1913 challenged the Law Society over their refusal to admit women to the solicitors' profession.