Justice Manuel Sosa is officially the new Court of Appeal President

It’s the first news out of Belmopan for the New Year and confirms what we reported late last week that government intended to appoint Justice Manuel Sosa as the new president of the Court of Appeal. Well, it became official today when Sosa was sworn in by Governor General, Colville Young, at Belize House in Belmopan. His appointment follows the resignation of former president, Justice Elliott Mottley after his appointment was reduced from life to one year. Justice Sosa, we note, is originally from Corozal Town and is the first Belizean president of the appellate court. He has been in the legal profession for some thirty-four years. Sosa was called to the Bar in 1976 and was in private practice for twenty-two years. During that time, he served as President and Vice President of the Bar Association and was a member of the Bar Committee and the General Legal Counsel. He then moved into the judiciary with his term as a temporary Justice of the Supreme Court in 1993 and then full appointment in 1998. He went on to serve as Chief Justice, albeit very briefly, after the change of government in 1998, and then as a Justice of the Court of Appeal. The other sitting justices in the Court of Appeal are Justices Denys Barrow, Dennis Morrison and Brian Alleyne.