Maria Paulina Aguirre Suárez (born 29 April 1958, in

Loja, Ecuador Loja (), formerly Loxa and fully City of the Immaculate Conception of Loja (), is the capital of Ecuador's Loja Province. It is located in the Cuxibamba valley in the south of the country, sharing borders with the provinces of Zamora-Chinchip ...

) is an

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian judge and lawyer, who became president of the National Court of Justice on 26 January 2018. At the time, she had 30 years of judicial experience and was the first woman to hold the position. Her election was by unanimous decision of the 21 magistrates in the

plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference or deliberative assembly in which all parties or members are present. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily r ...

of the court.

Early life and education

Suárez holds a doctorate of jurisprudence and a degree in law and social, political, and economic sciences from the National University of Loja. She is also studied as a Senior Specialist in Administrative Law at

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

Andean University, and holds a postgraduate degree in Procedural Law, Specialist in Civil Procedural Law, and Master in

Procedural Law Procedural law, adjective law, in some jurisdictions referred to as remedial law, or rules of court, comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil procedure, civil, lawsuit, criminal procedure, criminal or admini ...

with a mention in Civil Law from the Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica.

Career

Her positions before becoming President of the National court of Justice of the Republic include: * rapporteur secretary of the Second Chamber of the Superior Court of Quito, * secretary of the presidency of the Superior Court of Quito, * judge of tenancy of Quito, * Labor judge of Pichincha, * minister and president of the First Labor Chamber, Childhood and Adolescence of the Superior Court of Quito, * judge and president of the First Labor Court, Childhood and Adolescence of the Provincial Court of Pichincha * president of the Labor Chamber of the National Court of Justice Aguirre Suárez also served as executive director of the International Judicial Academy, and president of the Association of Judges of Ecuador. She was appointed to the 2018–2021 term, replacing Carlos Ramírez. At the end of her term, the National Court of Justice (CNJ) had resolved 6,964 cases.

References

Living people 1958 births Ecuadorian people of Basque descent 21st-century Ecuadorian women politicians 21st-century Ecuadorian politicians Ecuadorian women lawyers Ecuadorian women judges People from Loja, Ecuador {{Ecuador-politician-stub