The First female barrister to secure an acquittal of Murder in Ireland and the United Kingdom

Kathleen Phelan BL, in a historic defence made on behalf of her client, successfully triumphed at the Central Criminal Court Dublin. The defendant was accused of committing infanticide by murdering her son. These charges were promptly dropped following the verdict rendered by the jury of ‘not guilty’.

  Miss Phelan was called to the bar in 1927 and quickly became known as the first female barrister to appear before the Waterford Circuit Court. Kathleen Phelan often practised in Dublin and in the Southern Irish Circuit and also often lectured in mathematics. She died in 1956 at the age of 66.