On 16 November 1999, during the Twenty-first Plenary Session of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Judges chose Judge Jorda as the new President of the ICTY. Judge Jorda took over the presidency from Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, who left the ICTY at the end of the first term of her presidency. A French national, President Jorda has been a Judge at the ICTY since January 1994. Since October 1995, he has been the Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber I of the ICTY.