[2] In 1892 Benjamin won a university scholarship,[2] and in 1893 she enrolled at the University of Otago for an LLB degree, not knowing if she would be able to practice law on completion: It is true that the Legal Profession was not then open to women, and that the franchise had not yet been granted, but I had faith that a colony so liberal as our own would not long tolerate such purely artificial barriers.

I therefore entered on my studies with a light heart, feeling sure that I should not long be debarred from the use of any degree I might obtain.Benjamin graduated in July 1897, having achieved outstanding marks in her course.

She is reported to have said: It was only yesterday that I was asked to undertake this pleasant task, and while deeply sensible to the compliment paid to me, I was somewhat diffident about taking so much upon myself at so short a notice.

The Law Society made things difficult for her by not inviting her to official functions such as their annual dinner, and tried to enforce a dress code on her.

She also represented several hotels and publicans' associations on matters related to prohibition - she was one of the few nineteenth-century New Zealand feminists who didn't support temperance.

[2] Ethel was accidentally struck by a motor vehicle, and died of a fractured skull at Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, Middlesex, England, on 14 October 1943.

[5] Ethel Benjamin Place, a cul-de-sac across the road from the University of Otago Central Library, was named after the lawyer, during Suffrage Centennial Year 1993.