Like her parents, Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh is also a Muslim, unlike her great grandmother on the maternal side who was a Methodist Christian hailed from Koya Chiefdom (then Koya Kingdom) in the Port Loko District.
Jalloh's mother was the President of the Sierra Leone National Fullah Women’s Association for twenty six years; and her father served in the Freetown City Council.
In November of the same year, she was called to the Bar of the Honorable Society of Gray's Inn, London.
[3][2][4] She was the first woman to hold the Chief Justice position in Sierra Leone's history.
[5] She proceeded on leave to retirement on 6 February 2015,[6] with Valesius Thomas as acting Chief Justice, until finally being replaced by Abdulai Hamid Charm on 25 January 2016.