This event presents 'Lidia Poët e le prime avvocate' (Bollati Boringhieri, 2026), a book by visiting fellow Alberto Nicotina, postdoc and lecturer in European law at the University of Amsterdam.
Over the course of the event, the author will have the opportunity to present the main findings of his book together with further reflections on strategic litigation in Europe today. The author will be joined in the discussion by Prof. Giuseppe Martinico and PhD Researcher Sara Molinari, who will act as discussants by commenting on the book and offering the audience some food for discussion.
About the book:
The book, addressed to the general public, reconstructs the struggles of Lidia Poët, the first woman admitted to the Bar in Europe in 1883, only to be immediately disbarred one month later because of her gender identity. Through meticulous archival research between Brussels, Torino and Paris, the author identifies in this early feminist struggle the origins of strategic litigation in Europe. Poët’s was indeed a truly European cause, connecting her to other women equally aspiring to the Bar: Marie Popelin in Belgium, Jeanne Chauvin in France and Sarmiza Bilcescu in Romania. Central to their story is Belgian lawyer Louis Frank (1864-1917), who emerges as the legal and ideological bridge between them.
Beyond biography, the book sheds light on the cultural, legal and political landscape of late 19th-century Europe, revealing how legal systems became both battlegrounds and instruments for social transformation.
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