BELIZE CITY, Wed. Sept. 27, 2017–Attorney Michelle Trapp was sworn in today as a magistrate by the Chief Justice, Hon. Kenneth Benjamin, in a short ceremony that was held in his chamber. She said she doesn’t as yet know where she will be assigned, but her appointment comes at a time when the court is short of magistrates.
Before her appointment, she worked as a Crown Counsel for the Legal Advice and Services Center, aka, “Legal Aid”, for about 4 years. She is currently enrolled in a Master’s program in International Human Rights Practice in York, England, which is being financed through a Chevening scholarship, she obtained from the British High Commissioner.
She said she has already handed in her dissertation and she is awaiting results. The course is expected to be completed in one year.
Trapp is a graduate of the University of Guyana, where she obtained her Bachelor of Law degree in 2010. She got her Legal Education Certificate from Norman Manley Law School in 2012. She was called to the Bar on February 20, 2013. She is a graduate of St. Catherine’s Academy and Belize Technical College sixth form.
After graduating from sixth form, Trapp did a paralegal course and an “A” level law course at the University of West Indies, Extra Mural Department.
“I decided to study law after my nephew, Jason Avila, was shot and killed,” said Trapp.
She also said that her aspiration is to become a judge at the Supreme Court, then move on to be a judge at the Court of Appeal and a judge at the Caribbean Court of Justice and the International Court of Justice.
She was a hairstylist for 7 years and she operated her business, Hair It Is, first on King Street on an upper flat above Playboy Club, and then behind the Michael Finnegan Market.
She also worked at P and S Rodriguez Store while she was attending high school and sixth form. She is the mother of two daughters, Jahyle Zuniga, 8, and Cherica Avila, 16.