Janice Pereira

Dame Janice Mesadis Pereira ( George; formerly: George-Creque, Creque), was the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. She became the first female Chief Justice and the first person from the British Virgin Islands to become Chief Justice in 2012.

Early life She was born in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. Pereira first graduated from the University of the West Indies at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados with a law degree in honours in 1979 before completing her legal education certificate at Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica in 1981.

Career She was originally called to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands in 1981 after completing her legal certificate, and became a High Court judge in 2003.

As Chief Justice of the Court, she was the supreme judicial officer of the courts of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2013.

On 28 August 2024, it was announced she would be appointed a Privy Councillor on 2 October, and sit on its Judicial Committee.

Supervisor of elections Prior to joining the judiciary, as a practising lawyer Janice Pereira twice acted as supervisor for elections in the British Virgin Islands in the 1983 general election (under her maiden name) and in the 1986 general election (under her first married name, Janice George-Creque).