Entry into office of Dr.iur. Irēna Kucina as the Justice of the Constitutional Court
Today, on 11 February, Dr.iur. Irēna Kucina, the Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia took the judge’s oath (solemn affirmation) and entered office of the Constitutional Court’s Justice. The oath was made to the President of Latvia Egils Levits in the castle of Riga with the participation of Justices of the Constitutional court.
About the Constitutional Court’s Justice Irēna Kucina
Irēna Kucina was born on 19 March 1981.
Irēna Kucina studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia, where she obtained a master’s degree in law in 2007 and a PhD in law in 2011.
Irēna Kucina built her career in the public administration. She has exercised the functions of Deputy State Secretary for Justice in the Ministry of Justice, where she had the leading role in the development of judicial policy, thus ensuring the development and capacity building of the judiciary. From 2016 to 2019, she was the representative of the Republic of Latvia before the Court of Justice of the European Union. From 2019, she was the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Latvia and Head of the Office of the President’s Advisers, as well as the Adviser to the President on Justice and European Union Law.
Irēna Kucina has a long academic and scientific experience. In 2016, she was elected an associate professor at the University of Latvia, Faculty of Law. She has presented papers at a number of scientific conferences in Latvia and abroad, as well as conducted several studies and participated as a project manager and expert in projects on strengthening the judiciary in the European Union member states and third countries.
Since 2016 she is a member of the Board of Trustees of ERA (Academy of European Law).
Irēna Kucina is author of numerous scientific publications in Latvian and English in the field of European Union law, private international law, rights of the child, as well as issues related to artificial intelligence and digitization of the judicial system. In 2020, she published a monograph: “Civil Aspects of Cross-Border Child Abduction: The Child between Parents and States”. In her recent scientific publications, she focuses on the interaction between national constitutional courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as on the challenges to the rule of law in the European Union.
On 9 December 2021, Irēna Kucina was confirmed as the Justice of the Constitutional Court. She entered office on 11 February 2022.
Information about the Constitutional Court’s Justices is available here.