Justice Elsie Nwanwuri Thompson

Elsie Nwanwuri Thompson is from Port Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria and is a serving Judge of the High Court of Rivers State Nigeria. Called to the English bar in 1984 after obtaining her LL.B Honours degree from Queen Mary College University of London, she was later called to the Nigerian bar in 1985. She holds an LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the Aberystwyth University Wales.Justice Thompson was elected to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for a term of six years on 27th July 2010 as the first Nigerian which ended in July 2016. She was also elected to serve as the Vice-President of the Court from 2014 to 2016.

Prior to her appointment as a High Court Judge, Justice Elsie Thompson was in active private legal practice for 20 years and worked on human rights cases with a bias for championing women’s rights. She has served in several associations notably the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) where she held several positions including the offices of the Country Vice President (National President) and Regional Vice President for Africa. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees, FIDA Nigeria and the Chairman, Rivers State Judiciary Information Technology Committee(JITCO).

Justice Thompson is a resource person at seminars and conferences and a mentor to many young lawyers. She has presented several papers on women and children’s rights as well as other topical legal issues.

She is a member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK.