Her Honor Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh, Liberia’s first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was appointed in 2013. Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh was born on June 26, 1956, in Montserrado County, Liberia, to Anthony Kle Yuoh and Maromini Worbor Kollie. She has 21 siblings: Wani Yuoh, Tibui “Blyden” Tidibuo Yuoh, Hne Yuoh, Wesseh Yuoh, Tabioh Yuoh, George Yuoh, Gbobi Yuoh, Himie Yuoh, Ty-Toh Yuoh, Gyudeh Yuoh, Maromini Yuoh, Watchen Yuoh, Monu Yuoh-Toe, Natu Yuoh, Miamah Yuoh-Temah, Wede Yuoh-Lavela, Naweh Yuoh, Annapee Yuoh, Tayu Yuoh, Yassah Yuoh, and William Kley Yuoh.
In 1974, Sie-A-Nyene graduated from St. Teresa Convent Catholic High School in Monrovia. Afterward, she enrolled in Cuttington University in Suakoko, Gbarnga, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1978. She then studied at the University of Liberia’s Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, obtaining her Bachelor of Laws degree in 1981. Sie-A-Nyene was subsequently admitted into the Liberia National Bar Association as an Attorney-At-Law.
From 1983 to 1990, Yuoh served as Assistant Minister for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Justice and Coordinator of African Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During this period, she was admitted as Counsellor-At-Law of the Supreme Court Bar, which allowed her to argue cases before the nation’s highest court. She was also Associate and Legal Counsel at the David A.B. Jallah Law Firm in Monrovia from 1994 to 2000. She also served as the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) Vice President during this time.
As she built her career, Yuoh demonstrated her commitment to women’s rights by co-founding the Association of Female Lawyers in Liberia. She was the association’s first Vice President until 1998, advocating for gender equality and justice. Two years later (2000), she was assistant Legal Counsel and Secretary on the Board of Governors for the Central Bank of Liberia, serving until 2003. From 2011 to 2013, she served as the Acting Executive Director and Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission and left in 2013 to become Associate Justice. During this period, she was President of the Maryland County Bar Association.
In 2022, President George Manneh Weah appointed Yuoh to be the third female to serve on the Supreme Court since Liberia’s independence in 1847. The first was Frances Johnson Allison, appointed in 1996, and the second was Gloria Musu Scott, who was appointed in 1997.
Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gyapay Yuoh is married to Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr., a member of the Liberian Senate from Bomi County. They have ten children.
Otis D. Alexander, Library Director at Saint John Vianney College Seminary & Graduate School in Miami, Florida, has also directed academic and public libraries in the District of Columbia, Indiana, Texas, and Virginia. In addition, he has been a library manager in the Virgin Islands of the United States as well as in the Republic of Liberia. His research has appeared in Public Library Quarterly, Scribner’s Encyclopedia of American Lives, and Virginia Libraries journal. Alexander received the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees from the University of the District of Columbia and the Master of Library & Information Science degree from Ball State University. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from International University and studied additionally at Harvard Graduate School of Education Leadership for Academic Librarians, Oberlin Conservatory of Music Voice Performance Pedagogy, and Atlanta University School of Library & Information Studies.
