Ethel Houston

2024 marks the 75th anniversary of Ethel becoming the first female partner at a Scottish law firm, when she was appointed by Balfour and Manson in 1949.

She went on to become the first female Council member of the Law Society of Scotland, in 1975 – and, before her career in the law, was a wartime code-breaker at Bletchley Park. She died in 2017, aged 93.

Elaine Motion, partner, and former executive chairman at Balfour and Manson, said: “On what would have been her 100th birthday, it’s wonderful to announce plans for this celebration of Ethel’s remarkable life. She paved the way for so many women in the law and her achievements in a very different era mark her out as a very special and significant figure in legal history.”

Sheila Webster, president of the Law Society of Scotland, which also celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, said: “Ethel holds a special place in the story of the Law Society of Scotland, as our first female council member and a woman who was always at the frontier of change.”

The conference will be held in central Edinburgh in early October, with major legal figures attending.

Full details of the conference will be announced soon.