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Michelle Agnes Arana OBE (born 1969) is a Belizean judge who served as acting Chief Justice of Belize from 7 April 2020 to 2 September 2022. She was appointed the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Belize in 2006.
Michelle Agnes Arana OBE (born 1969) is a Belizean judge who served as acting Chief Justice of Belize from 7 April 2020 to 2 September 2022. She was appointed the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Belize in 2006.
Michelle Agnes Arana was born in 1969 in Belize City. She completed a bachelor's degree in English at Ball State University, then went on to study at the Norman Manley Law School of the University of the West Indies, finishing in 1994.[1] She earned an LLM degree in Commercial Law from Birmingham University in 2004, and was named the University of Birmingham's Alumna of the Year in 2006.[2][3]
In 2006 Michelle Arana was appointed to be a Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize. She was the Court's first female Justice. Before her appointment as a Justice, Arana was Registrar General and Registrar of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of Belize. In 1998 she was appointed to serve on Belize's National Women’s Commission.[2][3][1]
After Kenneth Benjamin retired as Chief Justice of Belize in March 2020, Arana was named acting Chief Justice.[4] She was officially sworn in on 7 April.[5] She served until Louise Blenman was sworn in as the new Chief Justice on 2 September 2022, then transferred to the Court of Appeal.[6]
Arana was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to the field of law and public service.[7]