Britain’s Youngest Solicitor

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31115, 19 July 1966, Page 2

Britain’s Youngest Solicitor

At the age of 16, Evelyn Israel left school with one ambition, She wanted to achieve some form of professional qualification. She hovered between law and interpreting. She speaks French almost as well as she speaks English, German fluently, and is now learning Italian. But it was law that won the day. Why law? Possibly because her father is a solicitor and the tradition runs in the family. But probably because she found that the work Involved subjects she enjoyed best at school. “It gives me plenty of contact with people, which is just what I want,” she said, So

she was articled to her father's firm. Last August she sat for her final solicitor’s examination in London. She passed and is now Britain’s youngest solicitor at the age of 20. The subjects she has had to study include trust accounts, bookkeeping, conveyancing, revenue law, equity and succession, probate factors, commercial law, company law and family law. So far, she has done mainly conveyancing, though she finds revenue law which includes income tax, estate duty and stamp duty law—the most fascinating subject Eventually she hopes to specialise in it It sounds a formidable programme of study and a heavy academic diet. But she has not made it all work and no play. She loves home life and all that goes into home-making—-

cooking, baking and dressmaking are favourite means of relaxation. Certainly, Evelyn has not lost any of her feminine qualities in coping competently with a man-sized job. She is pretty and lively as well as being self-possessed and mature. She obviously enjoys every minute of life in what, to the outsider, always appears a very masculine world. Sometimes women find it difficult to make their way in such an environment, for various reasons. But Evelyn has not found it so. She has not encountered the slightest antagonism, either from colleagues or clients. Her male colleagues have always gone out of their way to help her, and she has met with nothing but courtesy from them. The Law Society, was, in fact.

one of the first professional bodies in Britain to accept women as having equal status with men. “There is tremendous scope In the profession for women,” Evelyn said. “A woman can make it her career, knowing she can advance in it as far as her abilities will take her. But it is also ideal for the woman who marries and does not want to leave her career completely behind. You can marry, have children, and when they grow up, you can return to your profession.” Top priority is the completion of her articles this year. Although she toys with thoughts of working in Europe, preferably in France, she would be quite happy to remain in her father’s firm, making it a complete family concern, as it also includes her uncle and cousin.