Lombe Phyllis Chibesakunda was born on May 5, 1944, in Zambia, then called Northern Rhodesia. She attended Chipembi Girls’ School where she became the head girl and later studied at the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) in Lusaka. Lombe continued to read law at Gray’s Inn in England and obtained a post-graduate diploma in International Law at the Australian National University.

In 1969, Lombe became the first State Advocate in the Ministry of Legal Affairs and was a parliamentary candidate for the Matero constituency and Solicitor-General in the Ministry of Legal Affairs. Having garnered much experience as a practitioner with the Ministry for six years, she joined the diplomatic corps in 1975 serving as ambassador to Japan. She also served as the Zambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, the Holy Sea, and the Netherlands from 1978 to 1981. Justice Chibesakunda served in various judicial/adjudicatory positions presiding over both criminal and civil cases and supervising magistrates from 1981 to 1997.

Judge Chibesakunda's vast experience led to her appointment as a Supreme Court judge in 1997 during which time she concurrently chaired the Permanent Human Rights Commission of Zambia mandated to monitor the implementation of international human rights obligations by the Government. Although the candidature of Judge Lombe as a judge for the International Criminal Court was withdrawn by the Zambian government in 2009, she was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice of Zambia in 2012. Out of candidates presented by ten member states, Judge Chibesakunda polled nine votes resulting in her election as the first female Judge President for the COMESA Court of Justice in 2015. She is recognized for participating in the Lancaster talks which ushered in the independence of Zimbabwe as well as campaigned for the end of Apartheid rule in South Africa.