Solomon Areda Waktolla (Amharic: ሰለሞን አረዳ ዋቅቶላ, Oromo: Solomoon Araddaa Waqtolaa) is an Ethiopian lawyer who had served as the Deputy Chief Justice/Vice President of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia from 2018 to 2023.

[1] Solomon is a prominent[2] lawyer[3] with 26 years of experience in the practice of law, public administration and policy research who is committed for seeing[4] a free and independent judiciary in Ethiopia.

[5] Justice Waktolla served in the Ethiopian Judiciary mainly as a judge for 20 years on different levels of the court in both regional and federal positions.

[7] Justice Solomon Waktolla was appointed on 15 November 2022 by the UN General Assembly as a Half-time Judge of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal for a mandate starting on 1 July 2023 and ending on 30 June 2030.Furthermore,he has been appointed by the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank as a Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the African Development Bank, effective from November 2023.

Justice Waktolla is an accomplished judge and jurist with many years of legal and judicial work experience at both national and international levels.

[8] Solomon Areda Waktolla born in the town of Garba Guracha, Salalee, North Shewa zone of Oromia regional state in Ethiopia.

At Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Solomon completed the fellowship of Edward S. Mason Program in public Policy and Management.

[16] In January 2009, the Ethiopian House of Parliament appointed Solomon to serve as the Vice President of the Federal First Instance Court of Ethiopia.

Justice Solomon Waktolla, worked with a group of international Experts in framing the strategies for developing the legal and government infrastructure necessary to support child welfare systems which promote individualized best interest determinations and family-based care.

[23] At Harvard Law School Justice Solomon Waktolla, as a required written work, authored legal policy research on Land governance regime of Ethiopia.

Working alongside Chief Justice Meaza Ashenafi, he undertook historic and pragmatic steps to ensure that the judiciary served as the custodian of the constitution, the defender of human rights, and the advocate of the rule of law.

These legal reforms were designed to make the judiciary more efficient, effective, transparent, and accountable in delivering justice to the public by successfully addressing the main bottlenecks of the Ethiopian judicial system.

It involved the classification, allocation, and tracking of cases based on predefined criteria and timelines, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the courts and judges.

Justice Solomon Waktolla was a key figure in the Ethiopian judiciary, playing a decisive role in the introduction and foundational development of the electronic court case management system.

He recognized the potential of digital technology to overcome the traditional challenges of case management and devoted himself to laying the groundwork for this transformation, contributing significantly to the modernization of the Ethiopian judiciary.

Additionally, the reform improved the courts’ physical appearance and work environment through building renovations and provision of adequate facilities.

[34] Justice Solomon Areda Waktolla was appointed as a half time Judge of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal for the term 2023-2030 by the UN General Assembly in its 34th plenary meeting 77th session held on the 15th of November 2022 in New York.

To be eligible for appointment as a judge, a person shall be of high moral character and impartial and possess many years of judicial experience in the field of administrative and international law, or the equivalent within one or more national jurisdictions.

[42] His work at the UNDT [43] is a continuation of his efforts in Ethiopia, where he served as Deputy Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court and was instrumental in judicial reforms.