Danutė Jočienė (; born 10 November 1970) is a Lithuanian

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and legal professional who served as the President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania from 18 June 2021 until 17 March 2023. In December 2024, she was nominated by the acting

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Ingrida Šimonytė Ingrida Šimonytė (; born 15 November 1974) is a Lithuanian politician, public servant and economist who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Lithuania, prime minister of Lithuania from 2020 to 2024. She has been a Member of the Seimas for the A ...

to be a

of the

General Court of the European Union The General Court, informally known as the European General Court (EGC), is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member stat ...

. She also served as a judge of the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

from 2004 to 2013. Jočienė was a judge of the

Constitutional Court of Lithuania Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania (in ) is the constitutional court of the Republic of Lithuania, established by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania of 1992. It began the activities after the adoption of the Law of Con ...

from 2014 to 2023. She is currently serving as a judge of the

Supreme Court of Lithuania Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero created by Rob Liefeld * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * ...

Education

Danutė completed her primary education at an eight-year school in Tučiai in 1986.She then attended Viekšniai Secondary School, graduating in 1989. In 1994, she graduated with

honors Honour (or honor in American English) is the quality of being honorable. Honor or Honour may also refer to: People * Honor (given name), a unisex given name, including a list of people with the name * Honour (surname), English-language surnam ...

from the Faculty of Law at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

. After five years, she defended her doctoral thesis at the same university. From 1994 to 2003, she served as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

at the Faculty of Law, Vilnius University. Since 2014, she has been a professor at the Mykolas Romeris University Law School.

Career

From 1994 to 2003, Jočienė served as an assistant,

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

, and vice dean at the Faculty of Law,

. During this period, she also worked as an

expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field or area of study. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized ...

at the Department of European Law under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania from 1997 to 2001. In 2003, she was appointed as the Agent of the Government before the

, a role she held until 2004. That same year, she was elected as a

of the

, becoming the youngest judge in the Court's history at the age of 34. She served on the Court until 2013. In 2014, Jočienė was appointed to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. She became the first woman to chair the Constitutional Court in June 2021. Throughout her career, Jočienė has been actively involved in

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

initiatives, including contributing to the preparation of the Reform Protocol No. 14 of the European Convention on

Human Rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. She has also collaborated with the

Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...

of the Council of Europe and participated in various programs aimed at promoting human rights and

legal education Legal education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law. It may be undertaken for several reasons, including to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for admission to legal practice in a particular j ...

References

Sources

Danutė Jočienė, MK
(LT) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jociene, Danute Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Lithuanian judges Lithuanian judges of international courts and tribunals Judges of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania Presidents of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania International law scholars 1970 births Living people Lithuanian legal scholars Vilnius University alumni Academic staff of Vilnius University

Education

Career

See also

References

Sources