Leif Sevón is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 jurist and judge.

Sevón holds a Doctor of Law degree from the University of Helsinki

University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...

. His positions include a directorate at the Ministry of Justice, the presidency of the EFTA Court

EFTA Court

The Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association States is a supranational judicial body responsible for the three EFTA members who are also members of the European Economic Area : Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.As members of the EEA, the three countries have access to the internal...

, a seat in the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

, and an advisory position at the Ministry of Foreign Affair's Trade Directorate. He left the European Court in 2002 after his appointment as President of the Supreme Court of Finland

Supreme Court of Finland

The Supreme Court of Finland , located in Helsinki, consists of a President and at minimum 15, currently 18 other Justices, usually working in five-judge panels...

. In 2005 he retired from the presidency of the Supreme Court.