Isabel Perelló, first woman to preside over the Judiciary in Spain

The Plenary of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has appointed the pro-gay magistrate María Isabel Perelló as the next president of the Supreme Court and General Council of the Judiciary. She becomes the first woman to hold this position in Spain.

Ana María Ferrer García and Isabel Perelló Doménech

The Plenary has proposed Supreme Court justices Ana María Ferrer García and Isabel Perelló Doménech as new candidates in order to reach an agreement on the presidency of the high court and the judges’ governing body.

The plenary session took place this morning at 12:00 noon, and Isabel Perelló candidacy obtained 16 votes, compared to the 4 received by another Supreme Court judge, Ana María Ferrer García.

María Isabel Perelló Doménech

Judge of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court since 2009, Isabel Perelló joined the Judiciary in 1985.

Since then, she has held posts at the Court of First Instance and Instruction of Mahón (Menorca), at the Provincial Court of Barcelona and at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.

A specialist magistrate in contentious-administrative matters, she served in the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia in Seville (1991) and in that of the National High Court (1994). She was also a lawyer at the Constitutional Court (1993-2003).

She has participated in various courses on constitutional law, comparative administrative law, telecommunications and constitutional jurisprudence, as well as in meetings organised by the General Council of the Judiciary on sport, regulation and justice. She is co-author of several works and has contributed to the book ‘La Europa de los Derechos: el Convenio Europeo de los Derechos Humanos’, published by the Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales.