The Honorable Raquel Trabal

Raquel Trabal was sworn in as a Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Robert E. Morin on January 17, 2020.

Judge Trabal was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She received her B.A. in East Asian Studies and Law & Society from Oberlin College in 1999. After graduating from Oberlin, she taught English in Japan. In 2006, she graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School where she served as Associate Editor for the Law Journal and President of the Hispanic Law Society.

Before joining the Superior Court bench, Judge Trabal served as an Attorney Negotiator in the Domestic Violence Division for the Superior Court for the past seven years. In this role, she assisted both parties by providing information and facilitating dialogue to reach settlement agreements. She also assisted in creating business processes and operating procedures for the newly implemented Extreme Risk Protection Order law also known as ‘Red Flag law.’ She has presented specialized trainings on the role of trauma-informed practices and technology in domestic violence matters.

Judge Trabal also served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Support Policy and Training Sections of the Office of the Attorney General for DC and she was also a staff attorney for Legal Aid of Western Michigan. She represented clients primarily through the Reentry Law Project which assisted individuals who had a civil consequence arise out of a criminal conviction. Her representation included but was not limited to child support, social security benefits, identification card issues and sex offender registry matters. In addition, she represented Spanish-speaking domestic violence victims in divorce, custody and visitation matters.