Elisheva Barak-Ussoskin

Elisheva Barak-Ussoskin (; 13 October 1936 – 9 December 2024) was an Israeli judge. She sat on the Regional Labor Courts in Jerusalem and Beersheba from 1990 to 1995, and served as judge on the National Labor Court from 1995 to 2006. She also served as Vice President of the National Labor Court. Her rulings on labor law and labor relations were said to further the rights of workers more than any other Israeli judge. She was the wife of Aharon Barak, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel.

Biography

Elika Josephina Ussoskin (later Barak) was born in Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania on 13 October 1936.

The family settled in Jerusalem, where she studied at Gymnasia Rehavia from 1942 to 1950. She attended the Beit Ha-kerem High School in Jerusalem, graduating in 1954.

She married Aharon Barak, whom she had met while both were attending Beit Ha-kerem High School, in September 1957. Barak went on to serve as Attorney General of Israel (1975–78), Justice on the Supreme Court of Israel (1978–95), and President of the Supreme Court of Israel (1995–2006). The couple has three daughters and one son, all of whom graduated from law school.

Barak-Ussoskin undertook graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1956 to 1963, graduating with an M.Sc. in zoology, genetics, and chemistry.

Legal career

Barak-Ussoskin clerked for the office of the president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Yoel Sussman, and for the Jerusalem District Attorney's office, between 1977 and 1978. She passed the Israeli bar in 1978, and worked as a legal assistant to three different presidents of the Supreme Court from 1978 to 1987. She became Registrar of the Regional Labor Court in Jerusalem in 1987, and in 1990, was appointed a Judge in the Regional Labor Courts in Jerusalem and in Beersheba. In 1995, she advanced to a judgeship in the National Labor Court, and in November 2000 became vice president of that court as well.

Notable decisions

Barak-Ussoskin came to the National Labor Court at a time when workers' rights and the bargaining power of unions were weakening. Afterward Barak-Ussoskin wrote an extensive analysis about the decision, "Whose Newspaper Is It: Journalist-Publisher Relations – Judgment in the Case of Joanna Yehiel vs. The Palestine Post Ltd.", published in November 1993 issue of Qesher, a publication of the journalism studies program at Tel Aviv University.

Controversy

Allegations of nepotism dogged Barak-Ussoskin's career. SOS Israel notes that she was given a clerkship in the office of the Attorney General of Israel at the same time that her husband, Aharon Barak, was the Attorney General. She moved up to a legal assistant position in the Supreme Court at the same time that her husband was a Supreme Court justice. She was appointed judge of the National Labor Court by her husband, reportedly over the objections of the president of the labor court. Israel Minister of Justice David Libai stated to a reporter that the latter appointment had been based solely on merit rather than "family favoritism". However, Libai advised "that to avoid claims of 'discrimination or preference', the situation of appointment of two spouses as judges should be avoided in the future".

Barak-Ussoskin was cited for her slowness in completing her caseload. Some cases sat on her desk for many years without resolution. With the announcement of her retirement, eleven cases on which she had prepared a draft ruling were sent to other judges for completion.