Irēna Kucina

President of the Constitutional Court
Asoc. prof., Dr.iur.

Irēna Kucina was born on 19 March 1981.

Irēna Kucina studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia (UL), where she obtained a master’s degree in law in 2007 and a PhD in law in 2011. 2020 saw the publication of the scientific monograph “Human Rights Aspects in Cross-border Child Abduction: A Child between the Parents and the State”, which was developed on the basis of her PhD thesis.

Irēna Kucina has had a long career in senior positions in public administration. She served as the Deputy State Secretary on Court Issues 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 until 2021, she was the Deputy Head of the Chancery of the President of Latvia and Head of the President’s Councillors’ Office, as well as the Adviser to the President on Justice and European Union Law.

Irēna Kucina has a long academic and scientific experience. Since 2006, she is a lecturer at the Latvian Judicial Training Centre, whereas since 2011, – a guest lecturer at the Academy of European Law. From 2008 until 2013, she was a lecturer at the UL Department of International and European Law, but in 2016, she was elected an associate professor at the UL Faculty of Law.

Irēna Kucina is the author of numerous scientific publications in Latvian and English in the field of the 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 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 the problems of threats to the rule of law in the European Union. She is the author of the commentaries on Part III of the Civil Procedure Law.

She has presented papers at high-level scientific conferences in Latvia and abroad, as well as conducted several studies on international and constitutional law, the rights of a child, and the judicial system.

As a project manager and expert, Irēna Kucina has participated in projects related to issues of reinforcing the judicial power and protecting the rights of the child in the Member States of the European Union, as well as in other countries. She was the project manager, in supporting the consolidation of the rule of law in the Macedonian institutions of the judiciary, strengthening their institutional capacity and aligning the national legal acts with the legal acts of the European Union and the main human rights instruments of the Council of Europe. In the capacity of an expert, participated in the project “Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Supreme Court of Ukraine to protect human rights at national level”. She has prepared scientific reports on Latvia for the book “Cross-Border Litigation in Europe”, as well as for the project “Empowering European families (EEF)”. Participated in several projects of the European Commission as the national reporter (researcher).

In 2014, was the recipient of the special award of the Minister for Justice “Creativity for Just Latvia” for her contribution to improving the functioning of the system of courts while serving as the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice.

In 2015, was awarded the 2nd Degree Badge of Honour of the Justice System for particularly significant contribution to the development of the justice system, strengthening of democracy and the rule of law, for contribution to the development of the justice system, fostering international cooperation, as well as the knowledge and professionalism of the officials belonging to the justice system.

In 2016, she was invited to become a member of the Board of Trustees of ERA (Academy of European Law).

Since November 2023, she is the Vice-President of the Latvian Association of Judges.

Since December 2024, represents Latvia on the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission).

On 9 December 2021, Irēna Kucina was confirmed as the Judge of the Constitutional Court. She entered office on 11 February 2022.

On 10 March 2022, Irēna Kucina was elected the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court.

On 28 November 2024, Irēna Kucina was elected the President of the Constitutional Court.