Oldiais Ngiraikelau

Oldiais Ngiraikelau is a Palauan jurist educated at Xavier High School in the Federated States of Micronesia, the University of Portland and the William S. Richardson School of Law, from which he graduated in December 1983. He began his career as a public defender in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moved to Saipan in 1987 to serve as a public defender in the Northern Mariana Islands, becoming Chief Public Defender there from 1990 to 1991. He returned to Palau in 1991, established a law partnership and later a solo practice from 1994, was appointed Presiding Justice of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Palau in 2016 and sworn in on 6 January 2017, and became the third Chief Justice of Palau on 21 August 2020 under appointment by President Thomas Remengesau Jr., succeeding Arthur Ngirakelsong.