BELIZE CITY, Fri. July 20, 2018– The Supreme Court of Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin convened around 9:00 a.m. today to hear the evidence in the fixed date claim of Edward Aguilar, a young Belizean attorney who has the distinction of having been admitted to practice law at Gray’s Inn, in the UK and also in the CARICOM nation of Trinidad and Tobago, and now at the Belize Bar.

The evidence for Aguilar’s claim was presented to Chief Justice Benjamin by attorney Michel Chebat, S.C. Other attorneys who submitted supporting affidavits were Christopher Coye; Lisa Shoman, S.C.; Stacy Grinage; and Ellis Arnold, S.C, all of whom attested to his good character based on their personal knowledge of him.

Aguilar graduated from St. John’s College in the class of 2005. After completing his high school education, Aguilar obtained a certificate in paralegal studies at the University of the West Indies and completed an Associate degree with First Class Honors.

By July 2011, Aguilar had obtained a Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree from the University of Warwick, in Coventry, United Kingdom. In March 2013, Aguilar was admitted to the Honorable Society of Gray’s Inn, having completed the Bar Professional Training Course (at UWI this is known Aguilar was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Gray’s Inn on July 27, 2017.

In his affidavit supporting his application, Aguilar stated that he worked at Michel Chebat and Company during his summer vacation while he was studying abroad. His relationship with the law firm, however, first began when he was doing his paralegal studies at UWI. He then became a legal trainee after he obtained his LLB at the company’s San Pedro office.

In November 2012, Aguilar joined the law firm of Courtenay Coye LLP as a legal trainee and worked under the supervision of Eamon Courtenay, S.C., and attorneys Chris Coye, Ashanti Arthurs and Priscilla Banner.
In February 2017, Aguilar returned to his original position at Michel Chebat and Company, where he said in his affidavit that he had performed substantial legal work.

Following his counsel and his review of Chebat’s presentation of the evidence in support of his claim, Chief Justice Benjamin accepted the application and Aguilar was sworn in as an attorney to practice at the Belize Bar by Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, Sabetha Maharaj, after which, Chebat, in the ceremonial fashion of the occasion, placed his black robe on him.