Masters of the Bench

Joan Donoghue has been a Judge of the International Court of Justice since 2010 and has served as its President since February 2021. She joined the Court after a career at the U.S. State Department, where she was the senior career attorney from 2007 to 2010. Over about twenty years at the State Department, her work spanned diverse topics in public international law, including the negotiation and interpretation of treaties, the law of the sea, the environment, investment and human rights law. She also served as the Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (1999-2000) and as General Counsel of a financial services company (2003-2005). Judge Donoghue has been a member of investor-State arbitral tribunals and annulment committees. She has taught courses in international law at several law schools and in the training programme of the United Nations.