Paola Severino

Paola Severino (born 22 October 1948) is an Italian lawyer, academic and politician. She served as Minister of Justice in the Monti cabinet from November 2011 to April 2013, being the first woman appointed Minister of Justice in Italian history. On 3 October 2016, she was nominated rector of Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli.

Early life and education Severino was born in Naples in 1948.

Career Severino began her career as a researcher at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Council of Research) in 1972, and worked there until 1975. One of her clients was the former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Other prominent individual clients of Severino include Cesare Geronzi and Francesco Caltagirone whom she defended in the Cirio trial. She served as the head of the department of law at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome from 2003 to 2006. Before her appointment as minister of justice, she was working as a professor of penal law at the School for Carabinieri Officers and a Pro-Rector Vicar at LUISS Guido Carli University. Her tenure ended in April 2013. Anna Maria Cancellieri replaced her as justice minister. From 2018 to 2020, she was Special Representative of the President-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the fight against corruption, a position established by the Italian Presidency of the organization in 2018