Women Chief Justices

Hildah Chibomba is the President of the Constitutional Court of Zambia. She holds her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Zambia and has also received a Master of Laws degree from the University of Bristol. She was admitted to the bar in 1982. Justice Chibomba started her legal career within the judiciary of Zambia as a Resident Magistrate and Senior Resident Magistrate at Lusaka and Kitwe from 1982 until 1989. She then moved to the Civil Litigation Department within the Ministry of Legal Affairs to be an Assistant Senior State Advocate for the years of 1989 and 1990. Justice Chibomba climbed the ranks of the judiciary in Zambia becoming the Senior State Advocate in the Civil Litigation Department from 1990 until 1993. Justice Chibomba then left the Ministry of Legal Affairs to work in the Attorney General’s chambers from 1993 until 1997 as the Principle State Advocate/Head of the International Law and Agreements. Her next position was to become a Judge of the High Court from 1997 until 2009. Following her departure from the High Court, Justice Chibomba joined the Supreme Court and became a justice. She was then appointed to the Constitutional Court of Zambia in March 2016. Aside from her work in the judiciary, Justice Chibomba, is a member of the Zambia Association of Women Judges and the International Association of Women Judges.

Mathilda Twomey was the first woman to preside as Chief Justice over the Supreme Court of the Seychelles. She was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2015 to serve a five-year term. She was born in Mahe, Seychelles and educated at Seychelles College. Due to her diligence, she won a scholarship from the British Council to study law in Europe. She earned her law diploma at the University of Paris-Sud, Sceaux in 1985 and received a BA in both English and French law at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1986. Shortly afterward, she was called to the Degree of the Utter Bar in Middle Temple, London in 1987 after studying in the Inns of Court School of Law. After receiving her degrees, Twomey returned to the Seychelles to practice at the Ocean Gate Law Center and the Attorney-General’s Chambers. In 1992, she and Pesi Pardiwalla, former Attorney General of the Seychelles, Twomey established the law firm Pardiwalla and Twomey to practice private law. She was also a member of the Constitutional Commission which drafted the new Constitution of Seychelles in 1993. Once the new constitution for the Seychelles was established, Twomey moved to Ireland to work in voluntary, community, and disability law. While working professionally, Twomey also attended the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) to receive a Master’s in Public Law in 2011. After receiving her master’s Twomey was appointed as the first female judge in the Seychelles to work on the Court of Appeals. While working on the Court of Appeals, she traveled back and forth from the Seychelles to Ireland to both advance her education at NUIG and act as a lecturer surrounding torts at NUIG. She eventually obtained a PhD in law from NUIG in 2015, the same year she was confirmed as Chief Justice of the Seychelles. She then stepped down from the Supreme Court of the Seychelles in 2020 after her single five-year term was completed.

Irene Chirwa Mambilima was Zambia’s first woman Chief Justice who was appointed on February 26, 2015. Justice Mambilima was educated at the University of Zambia, where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree. Following her baccalaureate education, she attended the University of London to receive her Master of Laws degree. Justice Mambilima was then admitted to the bar in 1977. Directly following her admittance to the bar, she served in the Attorney General’s office as a State Advocate and a Senior State Advocate from 1977 to 1984. She was simultaneously the Director of the Legal Aid Department in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which has been renamed the Ministry of Justice. For her career beginnings, she joined the judiciary in Zambia in 1985 and served as a Commissioner for the High Court. In 1989, Justice Mambilima became the Judge of the High Court until 2002. Additionally, Justice Mambilima was appointed as the Judge-in-Charge for the Lusaka High Court in 1996 and subsequently, Judge-in-Charge of the High Court Commercial List in 2000. From 1994 until 1996, she was concurrently a member of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ). It was in 2000 that she was appointed to be a Judge of the Supreme Court though she was not ratified and confirmed until 2002. In 2003, Justice Mambilima became a Sessional Judge for the Supreme Court of The Gambia for one year. Between 2005 and 2015, Justice Mambilima became the Chairperson for the ECZ twice and presided over the 2006, 2011, and 2015 elections respectively. Justice Mambilima served as the Deputy Chief Justice for the Republic of Zambia from 2008 to 2015. Following her time as Deputy Chief Justice, she was elected to the position of Chief Justice for the Supreme Court in the Republic of Zambia in 2015 and continued to serve in this role until her untimely passing in June 2021. In addition to her professional life, Justice Mambilima was the Chairperson for the Zambian Council of Law Reporting, a board member for the Child Fund Zambia Board, and also served on the Advisory Board for Women in Law Southern Africa.

Manassa Danioko was born on January 19, 1945 in Mali. She attended Fougeres High School to receive her bachelor’s degree in 1966. To obtain her master’s degree in law by 1970, Danioko enrolled in the National School of Administration. She then worked in internships in the courts of France including the Court of Appeals, the Tribunal de Grande Instance, and the Paris Children’s Court. She became the investigating judge in the Court of First Instance of Segou from 1970 to 1971. At the Court of First Instance, Danioko became the Deputy Prosecutor for Segou, Kayes, and Sikasso between the years of 1972 and 1978. Following those roles, Danioko became the advocate general for the Court of Appeals of Bamako from 1979 until 1981. Additionally, she served two terms as the Superior Council for the judiciary from 1979 until 1988. Danioko then served as an advisor to the Special Court of State Security from 1983 until 1988. In 1985, she was also operating as the President of the Court of First Instance of Bamako. Danioko was suspended from the courts due to an interim order created in 1988. She was able to return to the court system of Mali in 1991 after the Supreme Court annulled the suspension. Danioko was the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal in Bamako from 1991 until 1995 until she leveraged the position to become the Attorney General at the Supreme Court of Mali in 1995. In 1995, Danioko became the ambassador of Mali to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and served concurrently until 2002. Due to her many accomplishments, Danioko received the honor of becoming a Knight of the National Order of Mali. She became the National Director of the Administration of Justice from 2004 until 2005. In 2005 until 2008, Danioko was promoted to the Constitutional Court as a judge. Her position was renewed in 2008 until 2015. In 2015, Danioko was elected the President of the Constitutional Court in Mali. She has served in this position since then. However, on July 11th, 2020 the President of Mali dissolved the Constitutional Court of Mali.