Dr. Adel Omar Sherif has been the Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt since December 2002. He earned his LL.B. (1979), Advanced Studies Diploma in Public Law (1980), Advanced Studies Diploma in Administrative Law (1981), and Ph.D. in Constitutional Law (1988) from Cairo and Am Shams Universities in Egypt. After working in private practice for a short period of time, he was appointed to the Egyptian judiciary, commencing his judicial career at the Council of the State, where he served in various judicial positions between 1980 and 1992. In 1992, Justice Sherif moved to the Supreme Constitutional Court, Egypt’s Supreme Court, as Assistant Counselor for the Commissioners’ Body. He was promoted to full Counselor in 1993 and was assigned Acting Head of the Commissioners’ Body that same year. In December 2002, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Chief Justice. Justice Sherif was a Visiting Fellow at the International Human Rights Law Centre of the College of Law, DePaul University, in Chicago in 1992; the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex from 1993-94; and the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. in 1996; and was a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, McGill University from 1998-99. He often represents the Egyptian judicial community in international conferences and seminars and has already received many honors and awards at the international level. Justice Sherif is a member of the International Board of Judicial Advisers for the Judges Newsletter of The Hague Conference on Private International Law and a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Judicial Reference Group.  Further, he has recently been appointed as a Vice-President of the International Judicial Academy in Washington D.C.

In 2005, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan awarded Justice Sherif the Medal of the Constitution of Kazakhstan.  In addition, in 2007, the Ateneo de Davao University in the Philippines conferred upon Justice Sherif an honorary doctorate degree in laws.

He has written and published widely on various legal aspects including human rights, constitutional issues, Islamic law, criminal law, and environmental law.

Justice Sherif taught Comparative Law II: Islamic Law in Spring 2008, Fall 2009, Fall 2010 and Fall 2011. He is teaching the same course in Spring 2012 and Fall 2012.