NEW DELHI: The first Malayali woman lawyer in the Supreme Court Lily Thomas (91) passed away here on Tuesday. She started her career as a lawyer in Madras High Court in 1955. Once she completed LLM in 1959, she became the first woman to complete post-graduation in law in India. She started practising in the supreme court from 1961.

Lily Thomas is the daughter of Changanassery native late Adv. K T Thomas and Annamma. Though she was born in Changanassery, she was brought up in Thiruvananthapuram and studied in Chennai. She remained single.

The first important verdict in her career was on a petition regarding the validity of the Advocate-on-Record Examination in 1964. In 2013, when Lily was 85, the landmark verdict in her career was pronounced according to which a legislator gets disqualified immediately when convicted for two or more years' prison.

Lily Thomas was also among the lawyers who dealt with the case related to assassination of Indira Gandhi. She has submitted several public interest litigations in the apex court.

She was the lawyer of Mary Roy in the case demanding equal rights for women on property in Christian families. She also approached the court despite age-related ailments requesting one-week extra time for demolishing the Maradu flats.