Robert Alon­zo

For­mer deputy chief mag­is­trate Deb­o­rah Thomas-Fe­lix has re­signed as a judge of the In­dus­tri­al Court.

In­ter­viewed yes­ter­day, Thomas-Fe­lix con­firmed that she left the In­dus­tri­al Court last week to go in­to pri­vate prac­tice. She said she had tak­en the de­ci­sion to start her own busi­ness–a law and con­sul­tan­cy firm on Ed­ward Street, Port-of-Spain. "I want to em­brace new chal­lenges and to con­tribute to so­ci­ety in a dif­fer­ent way," Thomas-Fe­lix said. "I am present­ly read­ing for an ex­ec­u­tive mas­ter's in busi­ness ad­min­is­tra­tion at the Arthur Lok Jack Grad­u­ate School of Busi­ness. I be­lieve law and busi­ness will go hand-in-hand with my ex­pe­ri­ence as a ju­di­cial of­fi­cer."

It was at Thurs­day's spe­cial sit­ting of the In­dus­tri­al Court that the court's pres­i­dent Ce­cil Bernard, in his speech, mere­ly men­tion that Thomas-Fe­lix had re­signed. Thomas-Fe­lix, the first fe­male Deputy Chief Mag­is­trate, who al­so served as the first pres­i­dent of the Fam­i­ly Court of St Vin­cent and the Grenadines, said she was ea­ger to be­gin her new chal­lenge. She was ad­mit­ted to Bar in 1986.

about thomas fe­lix

At­tend­ed Ma­yaro Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School, St Fran­cois Girls' Col­lege and North East­ern Col­lege. 1981 to 1984: Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies, Cave Hill, Bar­ba­dos–Bach­e­lor of Laws (LLB)

1984 to 1986: At­tend­ed Hugh Wood­ing Law School, St Au­gus­tine,Trinidad–Cer­tifi­cate of Le­gal Ed­u­ca­tion. Ju­ly 2007 to June 2008: HH Humphrey Fel­low­ship Ful­bright Board/ US De­part­ment of State with spe­cial­i­sa­tion in en­vi­ron­men­tal law. May 2008: At­tend­ed Wash­ing­ton Col­lege of Law, Wash­ing­ton DC, Unit­ed States.

2001-2003:Deputy Chief Mag­is­trate pre­sid­ing over crim­i­nal cas­es, in­clud­ing nar­co-traf­fick­ing, ex­tra­di­tion and mon­ey laun­der­ing. Chair­man of the Li­cens­ing Com­mit­tee. At the In­dus­tri­al Court, presided over trade dis­putes, OSH pro­ceed­ings, con­cil­i­a­tion, di­rec­tions, in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions of­fences, in­ter­pre­ta­tion of leg­is­la­tions and pro­vi­sions of col­lec­tive agree­ments judg­ment writ­ing. Presided as the chair­man of quo­rum of three judges and ad­ju­di­cat­ed on points of law.