Emma White, one of the first hundred women to graduate in Law from the University of Glasgow, was born in 1911 in Bellshill. Her father, Lauchland, was a builder and contractor. Emma began her law degree in 1931 concurrently with an apprenticeship and she made satisfactory if not distinguished progress to graduate B.L. in November 1934. She married Thomas Cochrane, also a solicitor, in 1938. She was one of a minority of women who succeeded in having a career as a solicitor after marriage. In 1941 she successfully petitioned the Court of Session for admission as a solicitor. She joined the practice of T.H. Campbell and Cochrane of Motherwell and continued in practice into the 1970s. She died in 1996, aged 84.
Sources
University of Glasgow Registry & General Council Records
Scotlands People
Law Lists
CoSS Petitions List CS46 1941/ 4/45
