Maria Paulina Aguirre Suárez (born 29 April 1958, in

Loja, Ecuador Loja (), formerly Loxa and fully City of the Immaculate Conception of Loja ( es, Ciudad de la Inmaculada Concepción de Loja), is the capital of Ecuador's Loja Province. It is located in the Cuxibamba valley in the south of the country, shari ...

) is an

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

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 which all members of all parties are to attend. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily related to a specific st ...

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 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, lawsuit, criminal or administrative proceedings. The rules a ...

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 21st-century Ecuadorian women politicians 21st-century Ecuadorian politicians Ecuadorian women lawyers Ecuadorian women judges People from Loja, Ecuador {{Ecuador-politician-stub