Justice Janina Zakrzewska was born on 12 December 1928 in Warsaw. She died on 27 May 1995.

She graduated from the Faculty of Law of Warsaw University in 1950. Judge Zakrzewska earned her juris doctor degree in 1959, and a habilitated doctor's degree in 1964. She conducted her academic career at Warsaw University until 1968, when she left it for political reasons. She was employed at Central Archives of Modern Records (Archiwum Akt Nowych) and, from 1989, at the Archive Research and Study Unit of the Central Directorate of the State Archives.

From 1989 she worked for the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1989 she took part in the "round table" negotiations. She was also an adviser to the Civic Parliamentary Club, directing the team of its advisers.

She was a member of  PEN-Club and the Helsinki Committee.

She was a prolific author of scholarly publications, including 7 monographs on constitutional law and political and legal systems of modern states.

Janina Zakrzewska was a Justice of the Constitutional Tribunal from 1989 to 1995.