Joan Donoghue

Joan E. Donoghue (born December 12, 1957) is an American lawyer, international legal scholar, former U.S. State Department official, and the current president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was first elected to the court in 2010, re-elected in 2014, and elected by the ICJ judges to be president of the ICJ in 2021. She is the third woman to be elected to the ICJ and the first American woman elected as president of the Court. Education and career Donoghue graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with honors degrees in Russian studies and biology in 1978. She subsequently received her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1981. From 1981 to 1984, she was an attorney in private practice at Covington & Burling, focusing on federal courts and litigation. In the 1980s, Donoghue acted as an attorney-advisor for the U.S. in Nicaragua v. United States. She was the general counsel of Freddie Mac from 2003 to 2005, and served as Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the United States State Department from 2007 to 2010, including as State Department Acting Legal Adviser in 2009. She previously served as the Office of the Legal Adviser's Deputy Legal Adviser (2000–2001) Assistant Legal Adviser for Economic and Business Affairs (1994–1999); African Affairs (1993–1994); and Oceans, Environment, and Science (1989–1991). She also served as Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department, overseeing all aspects of the Department's work, including international financial institutions. International Court of Justice Donoghue was elected to the ICJ on September 9, 2010, to fill the place left vacant by the resignation of Thomas Buergenthal. Pursuant to the Statute of the International Court of Justice, Donoghue completed the remainder of the nine-year term for which Buergenthal had been elected, which expired on February 5, 2015.