These requirements included: an intention to live in the commonwealth, be twenty-one years old, have good moral character, a reference letter from a practicing attorney, and lastly an examination by the court needed to be passed.

After graduating from law school, Robinson was denied admission to the Massachusetts Bar in Suffolk County in June 1881 by Chief Justice Horace Gray.

Robinson took up the matter with the Supreme Court of Massachusetts which allowed her to draft a brief in support of her argument in favor of women practicing law.

[8] While waiting for her admittance to the bar, Robinson had her own legal business with male lawyers to conduct her cases in the court.

[9] There was a general fear in the late nineteenth century that allowing a woman to practice law would lead to their right to suffrage (a right that was not granted until 1920[10]), and a disturbance of the current social order.

She drafted a bill that would authorize women to take the bar exam and practice law in the court and garnered support.

She argued that "as a citizen, under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, her privileges and immunities could not be abridged, and thus she was entitled to take the bar examination just like her male colleagues".

Robinson also helped to draft and pass a Massachusetts bill allowing women to take depositions and administer oaths.

[13] Robinson went on to have her own private legal practice, and moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1884 where society was much more receptive to women in the law.

[2] She took various surveys about women in the law, compiling information on their professional and personal lives, and constantly pushing for gender equality in the profession.

[2] In a paper published shortly before her death, she imparted these final words to future generations: "[I]n time, sooner or later, the lawyer everywhere who deserves success and can both work and wait to win it, is sure to achieve it, -the woman no less than the man.

[2] Each year, The Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts (WBA) presents the Lelia J. Robinson Award at their annual Gala to a woman who has captured the spirit of pioneering in the legal profession and has made a difference in her community.

Recent women in Massachusetts who have received this award are: the late Honorable Judge Nonnie Burnes, Christine Hughes, and Caryn R. Mitchell-Munevar.

The award is to remind ourselves of the mission that Lelia J. Robinson sought over a century ago, to extend representation to all classes of people and to build a society that is truly just.

[18] The winners of the award that have been chosen for 2024 are: Chief Justice Kimberly Budd, Governor Maura Healey, and the late Honorable Maureen Mulligan.