Joan Donoghue


Joan E. Donoghue is an American jurist, and a Judge on the International Court of Justice. She was elected to that post in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. She has two sons, Adam and Casey Shamma.
Donoghue graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with honors degrees in Russian Studies and in Biology in 1978. She subsequently received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1981.
In the 1980s, Donoghue acted as 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 Deputy Legal Adviser at the United States State Department from 2007 to 2010.

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.
Donoghue's name had been the only nomination for this ICJ vacancy received by the Secretary-General within the specified time. In the General Assembly, Donoghue received 159 votes out of 167 valid ballots. In the Security Council, she received all 15 votes. Donoghue was sworn in as a member of the ICJ on September 13, 2010.
Although the ICJ was established in 1945, Donoghue was only the fourth woman elected to be a member of the Court. Of the Court's 15 members, three are now female.. Previously, Rosalyn Higgins served both as judge and as president of the Court.
In 2014, Donoghue was nominated for a second term on the ICJ, and was easily re-elected with 156 votes in the first round of voting at the International Court of Justice judges election, 2014.