Exhibition: Annie MacDonald Langstaff

Annie Langstaff, née MacDonald, was a feminist, a legal author, aviatrix, and the first woman graduate in law in Québec (first-class honours, 1914), who became known because of her litigation against the Québec Bar, where she was denied access to its qualifying examinations. To honour her memory the Law Library opens an exhibition featuring a selection of archival materials, including her original diploma, photographs, and grades’ transcripts. She was born in 1887 in Alexandria, Glengarry County, Ontario. She came to Montreal, after receiving her Senior Matriculation from the Prescott (Ontario) High School, and worked as a stenographer for Samuel W. Jacobs, K.C., head of the firm Jacobs, Hall, Couture and Fitch, a well-respected lawyer and advocate of Jewish Rights.

In October 1911, with the encouragement of Mr. Jacobs, she entered the McGill Faculty of Law. She received her B.C.L. in May 1915, graduating with First Class Honours and a prize of $25.00. She ranked fourth in her class of eighteen and led her second year class in Company Law and her third year class in Criminal Law.

On September 7, 2006 The Montréal Bar bestowed on Mrs. Annie MacDonald Langstaff a posthumous honour by giving her the Medaille du Barreau de Montréal in recognition of her accomplishments.

To honour the memory of Annie Langstaff, BCL ’14, the first woman to earn a law degree in Quebec, the Nahum Gelber Law Library presents an exhibition featuring a selection of archival materials, including her original diploma, photographs, and grades’ transcripts.

The exhibit was prepared by Svetlana Kochkina, Librarian at the Nahum Gelber Law Library.

Free admission. Accessible during opening hours. 

Read more about Annie's remarkable story here.