Lidia Poët

Lidia Poët (Italian pronunciation: [ˈliːdja poˈɛt]; 26 August 1855 – 25 February 1949) was the first modern female Italian lawyer. Her disbarment led to a movement to allow women to practice law and hold public office in Italy.

Lidia Poët
Born	(1855-08-26)26 August 1855 Perrero, Kingdom of Sardinia
Died	25 February 1949(1949-02-25) (aged 93) Diano Marina, Italy
Alma mater	University of Turin (1881)
Occupation	Lawyer

Career

Poët was born in 1855 in the hamlet of Traverse, Perrero, in the Occitan-speaking Germanasca Valley, into a Waldensian family. She passed her law examinations at the Faculty of Law of the University of Turin and received her degree on 17 June 1881.^[1] For the following two years, she "attended forensic practice" in the office of a lawyer and assisted at the sessions of the tribunals. She then underwent the theoretical and practical examination of the Order of Lawyers of Turin and, approved by 45 of 50 votes, was enrolled in the roll of lawyers (albo degli avvocati) on 9 August 1883.

However, the enrollment of a woman on the roll "did not please" the office of the attorney general (procuratore generale), who entered a complaint with the Court of Appeal of Turin. Despite rejoinders, arguments, and examples of woman lawyers in other countries (such as Clara S. Foltz), the attorney general argued that women were forbidden by law and public policy to enter the milizia togata (i.e. the judiciary). The Court of Appeal subsequently found that Poët's enrollment was illegal. She appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation, but the decision of the lower court was confirmed in 1884 and Poët was precluded admission as a lawyer to the Turin bar association.^[2][3]

Following the decision of the Court of Cassation, Poët worked in the legal office of her brother, Enrico Poët,^[3] doing in practice the work of a lawyer even though she could not sign letters or plead in court. When her brother departed for Vichy in France each year, she took over the practice entirely, and when necessary, sought out male colleagues to plead in court on behalf of her clients.^[4]

Later life

Memorial plaque for Lidia Poët in Turin

For the rest of her life, Poët was active in the international women's movement.^{[citation needed]}

Under Law n. 1176 of 17 July 1919, women were allowed to hold certain public offices. It was not until 1920 that Lidia Poët, as a 65-year-old woman, was enlisted in the record of the members of the Council of Lawyers and officially recognized as a lawyer, when finally enrolled in the roll of Turin.^[5]

She died in the seaside resort of Diano Marina in 1949.^[1]

In popular culture

Lidia Poët's life is stylized in the Netflix TV series The Law According to Lidia Poët and played by Matilda De Angelis.^[6]

See also

• First women lawyers around the world