{{Short description|Irish barrister and legal scholar}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{Use Irish English|date=January 2022}} '''Frances Elizabeth Moran''', (6 December 1893 – 7 October 1977) was an Irish barrister and legal scholar. She was Reid Professor of Criminal Law from 1925 to 1930, and Regius Professor of Laws from 1944 to 1963 at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD). She was called to the Irish Bar in 1924 and the English Bar in 1940. She was the first woman to become a law lecturer in Ireland and also to hold a chair at TCD when she was made Reid Professor. She became the first woman to take silk in Ireland, and indeed across the British Isles, when she was made a Senior Counsel in 1941.<ref name="WWW">{{cite web |title=Moran, Prof. Frances Elizabeth |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-157705 |website=Who Was Who |publisher=Oxford University Press |accessdate=23 January 2019 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U157705 |date=1 December 2007}}</ref><ref name="First">{{cite web |title=Professor Frances Moran |url=https://first100years.org.uk/professor-frances-moran/ |website=First 100 Years |accessdate=23 January 2019 |date=12 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="DULJ">{{cite journal |last1=Heuston |first1=R. F. V. |author-link = Robert Heuston |title=Frances Elizabeth Moran |journal=Dublin University Law Journal |date=1989 |volume=11 |pages=1–9 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/dubulj11&i=5 |accessdate=23 January 2019}}</ref>
==Early life and education==
Moran was born on 6 December 1893 in Dublin, Ireland.<ref name="WWW" /> She was the second daughter of James Moran, a businessman and politician.<ref name="First" /> She was educated at Dominican College Sion Hill, an all-girls school in Dublin.<ref name="WWW" /> She matriculated into Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1911 to study modern languages (French and English), and graduated in 1915.<ref name="DULJ" /> She remained at TCD to study law, and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1918 and a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree by examination in 1919.<ref name="DULJ" /><ref name="DIARY">{{cite news |last1=Gallagher |first1=Paul |title=AN IRISHMAN'S DIARY |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.58180 |accessdate=23 January 2019 |work=The Irish Times |date=2 April 1997 |language=en}}</ref>
==Career==
Moran was called to the Irish Bar in 1924.<ref name="WWW" /> She was additionally called to the English Bar, at Gray's Inn, in 1940.<ref name="DULJ" /> On 9 May 1941, she became the first woman to become a Senior Counsel in Ireland when she was called to the Inner Bar.<ref name="First" /><ref name="DULJ" /> As such, she was the first woman to ''take silk'' in the British Isles, with the first King's Counsel in the United Kingdom (Margaret Kidd) not called until 1948.<ref name="DULJ" /> As a barrister, she specialised in conveyancing and only rarely appeared in court.<ref name="DULJ" />
From 1925 to 1930, Moran was Reid Professor of Criminal Law at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD).<ref name="WWW" /> As such, she was the first woman to become a law lecturer in Ireland and also to the first hold a chair at TCD.<ref name="First" /><ref name="Timeline">{{cite web |title=A Timeline of the History of Women in Trinity |url=https://www.tcd.ie/about/trinity/events/Womens_Centenary/timeline.php |website=Women Alumni-Women's Centenary |publisher=Trinity College Dublin |accessdate=23 January 2019}}</ref> She was also Regius Professor of Laws from 1944-1963.<ref>{{cite book |last=Webb |first=D.A. |editor-first=Barlett |editor-last=J.R.|date=1992 |title=Trinity College Dublin Record Volume 1991 |location=Dublin |publisher=Trinity College Dublin Press |isbn=1-871408-07-5|page=}}</ref> In 1968, she became the first woman to be made an honorary fellow of Trinity College Dublin.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Parkes |editor-first=Susan M. | first=| last=| date=2004 |title=A Danger to the Men? A History of Women in Trinity College Dublin 1904-2004 |location=Dublin |publisher=Lilliput Press |chapter= |isbn=978 1 84351 040 6}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Frances}} Category:1893 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Irish barristers Category:20th-century Irish lawyers Category:Academics of Trinity College Dublin Category:People educated at Dominican College Sion Hill Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Category:Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Category:Members of Gray's Inn Category:Lawyers from Dublin (city) Category:20th-century Irish women lawyers Category:Irish Senior Counsel