Justice Elizabeth Ibamda-Nahamya served as Principal Defender of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from June 2008 to December 2008, and as Deputy Principal Defender for the four years prior.
Before joining the Special Court, Ms. Nahamya worked for eight years as a Legal Officer with the Chambers Division of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
From 1995 to 1996, Ms. Nahamya was a Legal Researcher to the Uganda Constituent Assembly delegates which drafted the Uganda constitution. Prior to 1995 she worked in private practice as a defence lawyer in the Ugandan national jurisdiction.
Ms. Nahamya has lectured extensively on criminal law at various universities outside her country, and has published articles on such topics as anti-corruption practices; International Criminal Law and Evidence; Criminal Law and Human Rights.
In 2009, she was appointed Judge to the International Crimes Division of the High Court of Uganda in 2009, making her one of the pioneer judges of that Court. She was appointed a Judge of the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2013. She served as vice president from December 2016 to December 2018.