Martha Niquille-Eberle, (born 1954), is a Swiss jurist and judge at the

Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland (german: Bundesgericht, french: Tribunal fédéral, it, Tribunale federale, rm, ) is the supreme court of the Swiss Confederation and at the head of the Swiss judiciary. The Federal Supreme Court i ...

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

. In 2021, and after ninety seven male presidents, she assumed she as its president as the first woman. She is a member of the political party The Centre.

Early life and education

She was born on the 27 August 1954 and grew up in

Muolen Muolen is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of St. Gallen in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Muolen is first mentioned in 1155 as ''Mola''. Geography Muolen has an area, , of . Of this area, 85.2% is used for ...

. She attended law school at the University of St.Gallen where she obtained her doctorate in 1982 and the lawyers exam in 1984. Between 1979 and 1981 she was an assistant for constitutional and administrative law at the University of St. Gallen. She practiced as a lawyer in St.Gallen between 1984 and 1988.

Professional career

From 1987 to 1993 she was a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen for law on obligations and also a part-time judge at the Cantonal Court of St. Gallen. From 1993 to 2008 she was a regular judge at the Cantonal Court of St. Gallen, and assumed as its president between 2005 and 2007. For the time her children attended primary school she was granted an exceptional 80% tenure as at the time judges were obliged to a work a 100%.

Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland

Since 2008 she is a judge at the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, for which she was elected and acting as a vice-president since 2017. On the 12 December 2020, she was elected with 173 votes of 174 of the

Swiss Parliament The Federal Assembly (german: Bundesversammlung, french: Assemblée fédérale, it, Assemblea federale, rm, Assamblea federala), also known as the Swiss parliament (''Parlament'', ''Parlement'', ''Parlamento''), is Switzerland's federal leg ...

but without the votes of the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

(SVP) who turned in blank votes.

Personal life

She is the first female president of the

after ninety seven male presidents had preceded her. She is a member of the political party The Centre, on whose support she could count during the election process. In 2007 she campaigned for the executive council of St.Gallen, but was not seen as a viable candidate by the her party The Centre. She lives in St.Gallen and is married to Christoph Niquille, a former executive at the

Helvetia insurance Helvetia is a globally active Swiss insurance group. The group of companies has been organised in a holding structure since 1996. The head office of ''Helvetia Group'' is located in St Gallen. Corporate structure The group of companies employs ...

and has two children. Her places of origin are

Wittenbach Wittenbach is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of St. Gallen in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Wittenbach is first mentioned in 1297 as ''Witebach''. Geography Wittenbach has an area, , of . Of this area, 58% ...

, Hägenschwil and

Charmey Charmey (; frp, Chàrmê ) is a former municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Charmey and Cerniat merged into the new municipality of Val-de-Charmey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martha Niquille 21st-century Swiss women politicians 21st-century Swiss politicians University of St. Gallen alumni Swiss women judges Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland judges 1954 births Living people