First women chief justices

Sushila Karki is a Nepalese lawyer and stateswoman who served as Chief Justice of Nepal from 2016 to 2017 and as interim prime minister of Nepal from 2025 to 2026. She became prime minister following the Gen Z-led protests of September 2025 that led to her predecessor’s resignation. Karki is the first woman in Nepal’s history to serve both as prime minister and as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal.

independence activist and writer, Journalist, Communism activist, feminist, sex positive activists (1902-1991)

president of Haiti

Indian judge

New Zealand judge, and 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand

Ghanaian judge and Chief Justice

De facto Chief Justice of the Philippines from 2012 to 2018

Israeli judge

Cameroonian judge

Brazilian judge

Eritrean judge

Chief Justice of The Turks and Caicos Islands

politician in Lesotho

chief Justice of Malaysia

Chief Justice of Kenya

former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka

Sudanese judge

Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice (1933-2020)

Central African lawyer, professor and jurist

7th Chief Justice of Zambia (1952–2021)

Cape Verdean lawyer and jurist

Australian judge

Nigerian jurist

judge of the Supreme Court of Russia

Nigerien politician

Liberian lawyer

Australian judge; Chief Justice of Australia

Ukrainian lawyer and judge

Seychellois lawyer and academic

Malaysian lawyer and judge