Women Chief Justices

Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo holds a doctorate in Law and currently serves as the President of the Constitutional Court in Gabon. She was educated for her primary schooling at the Catholic School St-Hilaire, and received her secondary schooling at College Notre- Dame de la Salette. She obtained her baccalaureate degree at the State High School of Franceville in 1975. Her academic degrees include a master’s degree in law from the National University of Gabon in 1979, and a Masters in Public Finance, Taxation, and Constitutional Law from the University of Paris II. Mborantsuo worked as an auditor for the Chamber of Accounts at the Supreme Court of Gabon. She was able to leverage this position to a long-term internship at the French Court of Auditors and the Institute of Public Administration in Paris, France. After gaining legal experience in France, Mborantsuo returned to Gabon to serve in the Chambre des Comptes and as an advisor to the Minister of Planning whilst also working as a Professor at Omar Bongo University.

In 1983, she was promoted to the position of President in the Audit Chamber of the Supreme Court. Then, in 1990, she assisted in writing Gabon’s new constitution to rethink the institutions of democratic law, as a multiparty system was reinstated politically. The new constitution established the Constitutional Court of which Mborantsuo was named one of the first members in March 1991 before becoming the first elected President by her peers in October of 1991. After another constitutional amendment, in 1998, Mborantsuo was appointed President of the Constitutional Court, the same position she had held previously, by the President of the Republic rather than elected amongst her peers on the Constitutional Court. Despite the elevation to President of the Constitutional Court, Mborantsuo continued to serve as a professor of law at University of Omar Bongo. To supplement her career in higher education, she acquired her Doctorate in Constitutional Law at the University of Aix-en-Provence in 2005. While she was writing her doctoral thesis, Mborantsuo stopped working on the Constitutional Court in 2001 until she was reappointed by the President of Gabon in 2005. She continues to simultaneously serve in the role of President of the Constitutional Court and work as a professor of law today.

Domitile Barancira received her law degree from the University of Burundi. From there, she started her career as a judge on the Burundi Court during the years of 1983 to 1996. In addition to serving on the Burundi Court, she simultaneously held the position of Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court in 1992-1996. Following this role, Honorable Domitille Barancira served as the Chair of the Bujumbura Appeals Court for two years. After leaving this position, Barancira became the Chair of the Constitutional Court in Burundi. The Constitutional Court is the ultimate authority for Burundi’s constitutional law. It is Burundi’s second highest court. In addition to being the President of the court, Barancira also worked as the Chairwoman of the Commission of Reform and Modernization of the Burundian Justice System. She was appointed to be the Chair of the Constitutional Court for the years 1998 until 2006. Domitille Barancira was the Ambassador of Burundi to Germany following her career within the judicial sector and public service. Following her appointment to the ambassador position for Burundi in 2007, she has since engaged in discussions revolving around climate change and African nationalism. This Ambassadorship ended in 2010 and the former ambassador and President of the Court has since retired.

Gloria Musu-Scott was born in Monrovia, Liberia. She became Liberia’s second female Chief Justice following Cllr. Frances Johnson- Allison. She was educated at the University in Liberia where she received a bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in Management in 1975. Upon her graduation, she served as a full-time employee in the Ministry of Public Works as an Administrative Assistant. She then entered Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law to obtain a bachelor’s degree in law in 1986. She worked as a Prosecutor at the Ministry of Justice, and in 1991, she was appointed as an Assistant Minister of Justice. She was appointed as the Judge for the Monthly and Probate Court in Montserrado County by the President of the Interim Government. She became a Counsellor at law of the Supreme Court Bar in 1992 and started acting as a lecturer at Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law. Due to her personal passion for legal equality for women and children deriving from the poor treatment of widows, she organized the Association of Female Lawyers and became the first President of the organization in 1994. In 1996, Cllr. Musu-Scott was appointed Minister of Justice and served as the Chairman for the Ad Hoc Elections Commission amid the ongoing civil war. Musu-Scott became a member for the Independent Elections Commission, which conducted the 1997 elections in Liberia. Following the 1997 elections and the restoration of the Constitution, Cllr. Musu- Scott was then appointed Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia, from 1997 until 2003. In 2005, Cllr. Musu-Scott became Senator for Maryland County in the General Elections. During her tenure as a Senator, she started the Women Legislative Caucus of Liberia, until the end of her term in 2012. In 2012, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appointed her Chairperson of the Constitution Review Committee due to her previous experience in legal action. Since 2012, Cllr. Musu-Scott has become adjunct faculty at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law.

Frances Johnson-Allison, formerly known as Frances Johnson-Morris, was Chief Justice of Liberia’s Supreme Court from 1996-1997. She was educated at the University of Liberia, Monrovia, where she received her bachelor’s degree in English. Following her undergrad, Johnson-Allison attended Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Monrovia to obtain her degree in law. Utilizing her skills, she became a circuit judge from 1989 to 1997. She was appointed during wartime as the first female Chief Justice in Liberia. Johnson-Allison also served the Attorney General of Liberia from 1998. She was the director for Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Liberia from 2004-2005 before she was appointed the Chairwoman of the National Election Commission (NEC) for the 2005 Liberian general elections. She then became the Minister of Justice in 2006.She was concurrently working professionally as the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice before she took office as the Minister of Commerce and Industry in 2007. Following this post, Frances Johnson-Allison became the Head of the Anti- Corruption Commission, appointed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and confirmed by the Liberian Senate until 2013. Following her long career in public service and the judicial sector, she has entered private practice and become counsel for clients in litigation before court.