Janet Healy Weeks (born 19 October 1932) is a retired American lawyer and judge. She was the first woman to be admitted to the bar in Guam and the first female judge in Micronesia.

Life

Weeks was born in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

, and studied chemistry at

Emmanuel College, Boston Emmanuel College is a private Roman Catholic college in Boston, Massachusetts. The college was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as the first women's Catholic college in New England in 1919. In 2001, the college officially became a c ...

, graduating in 1955. She went on to study law at

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College, a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is situated on a campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about from the university's main campus in Chestn ...

, graduating in 1958. She was then selected for the Attorney General's Honor Graduate Program, and from 1958 to 1961 she worked at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. In 1971 she took a position in a law firm in Guam, Trapp & Gayle, and four years later, became a partner. Weeks was a trial judge in the Superior Court of Guam from April 1975 to April 1996, when she was appointed an Associate Justice in the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. She held this position until her retirement in April 1999. She also sat as a designated justice in the

Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia The Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia is the highest court in the Federated States of Micronesia. It was established by Article XI of the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia. It has both a trial division and an app ...

, the

District Court of Guam A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

and was a justice pro tem in the Supreme Court of the

Republic of Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, w ...

. In 2009, Weeks was awarded the Hustisia Award, in recognition of her contribution to the improvement of the administration of justice and of good government in Guam. Weeks also holds an honorary doctorate from the

University of Guam University of Guam () (U.O.G.) is a public university, public land-grant university in Mangilao, Guam. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and offers thirty-four degree programs at the undergraduate level and ele ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Janet Healy Guamanian judges Guamanian lawyers Justices of the Supreme Court of Guam 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers People from Quincy, Massachusetts 1932 births Living people

Life

See also

References