Charlyne Brumskine Ascends To ECOWAS Court -Liberia’s female lawyer secures top regional judicial position

MONROVIA – Regional courts derive their strength from the competence, independence and integrity of the jurists entrusted with interpreting community law and defending citizens against abuses of power. Liberia’s selection for the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States therefore represents more than another statutory appointment. It places one of the country’s most accomplished lawyers on a regional bench whose decisions influence human rights, treaty obligations, trade, governance and the rule of law across West Africa. Cllr. Charlyne M. Brumskine brings to the Court more than two decades of legal practice, international exposure, public-policy experience and academic service, making her appointment a defining milestone in an already distinguished professional career. THE ANALYST reports.

Liberian lawyer, academic and public-policy leader Cllr. Charlyne M. Brumskine has been appointed a judge of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, elevating one of Liberia’s most prominent legal practitioners to the regional judicial institution responsible for interpreting Community law and adjudicating human-rights and cross-border disputes.

Brumskine is among five new judges endorsed for the Court for the 2026–2030 statutory period following recommendations from the 96th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers. The appointments were approved by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government during its 69th Ordinary Session. (ECOWAS)

Her selection places Liberia on the regional bench through a lawyer whose career spans more than 23 years across several international jurisdictions and includes substantial work in human rights, international trade, corporate and commercial law, public policy, governance and cross-border litigation.

A Career Built Across Jurisdictions

Brumskine earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., in 2002. She is admitted to practice before the Liberia National Bar, the New York State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.

She also emerged as valedictorian of the Liberia Supreme Court Bar Examination after obtaining the highest score on the national examination. She is pursuing a Master of Laws in International Corporate and Commercial Law at King’s College London, with completion expected in January 2027.

Her appointment is grounded in a legal career that has combined courtroom practice, judicial research, government policy, international negotiations and academic instruction.

As founder and managing attorney of CMB Law Group, LLC, Brumskine has advised clients on corporate, commercial and governance matters. Earlier in her career, she served as a judicial law clerk at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where she conducted legal research, drafted judicial orders and worked closely with the Court and litigants.

She later practiced civil and human-rights litigation with Lansner & Kubitschek in New York, handling federal civil-rights matters, legal briefs, motions, depositions and trial advocacy.

Human Rights And Public Policy

Brumskine’s experience extends beyond private legal practice. From 2009 to 2013, she worked as a policy specialist with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, serving as a resident expert on human trafficking and contributing to federal regulations, legislative analyses and child-welfare policy.

In Liberia, she served as lead consulting attorney for the country’s Anti-Human Trafficking National Action Plan. In that role, she helped develop and draft the national framework and directed the Ministry of Justice’s public-awareness and outreach strategy.

She also served on Liberia’s World Trade Organization accession negotiation team, contributing to the Working Party Draft Report, participating in negotiations in Geneva in February 2015 and assisting efforts to align Liberian laws with multilateral trade obligations.

Those assignments provided her with direct experience in treaty interpretation, international obligations, human-rights protection and institutional reform—areas central to the jurisdiction and expanding influence of the ECOWAS Court.

Scholar And Legal Educator

Beyond litigation and public policy, Brumskine has contributed to the training of Liberia’s emerging generation of lawyers.

She has served as an associate professor at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, teaching Legal Methods, Research and Writing, while also serving on the Law School Admission Committee.

In 2025, she joined the Liberia School of Law as an associate professor of Business Corporations Law. Her academic work complements a professional career focused on strengthening legal education, institutional accountability and respect for the rule of law.

Her credentials are also recognized beyond Liberia. The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development identifies her as an Amujae Leader and notes her legal education, multinational bar admissions and distinction as valedictorian of Liberia’s Supreme Court Bar Examination. (ejscenter.org)

From National Politics To Regional Justice

Brumskine was the vice-presidential candidate of the Collaborating Political Parties during Liberia’s 2023 presidential election. Her campaign placed significant emphasis on democratic governance, institutional reform, youth empowerment and the political participation of women.

She later continued providing strategic leadership through the Liberty Party, serving as chair of its Advisory Council and advising on governance, rule-of-law and democratic reform.

Her appointment to the ECOWAS Court, however, shifts her professional focus from national political advocacy to regional judicial service. The position requires impartiality, independence and fidelity to the Revised ECOWAS Treaty, Community protocols and established principles of international law.

Brumskine has also developed a growing international profile as a speaker on women’s leadership and democratic governance. In March 2026, she addressed an International Women’s Day gathering at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, on women’s role in redefining power and renewing fragile democracies.

She previously appeared at the Global Progress Action Summit in London alongside international political and policy leaders, contributing an African perspective to discussions on democratic progress and governance. (Women Voices Newspaper)

A Defining Liberian Appointment

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice hears cases involving the interpretation and application of Community law, disputes among member states and allegations of human-rights violations. Its decisions have increasingly shaped regional jurisprudence and reinforced the ability of citizens to seek redress beyond their national courts.

Brumskine enters that institution with extensive experience in human rights, international trade, policy development, legal education and complex litigation.

Her appointment marks a significant professional achievement for a Liberian woman whose career has traversed courtrooms, classrooms, government institutions, international negotiations and national politics.

More importantly, it places Liberia’s representation on the ECOWAS Court in the hands of a jurist whose credentials reflect the increasingly complex legal questions confronting the region.

For Brumskine, the appointment is not merely the latest entry on an extensive professional résumé. It is the culmination of decades devoted to law, governance, human dignity and institutional development—and the beginning of a new responsibility to administer justice across the West African Community.