The Commission has established the position of Commission Counsel and has designated Attorney Marie-Bernarde Miller to serve in that capacity. The Commission Counsel reports directly to the Commission and assists the Commission in its adjudicatory function, including in its consideration and adjudication of matters in which formal proceedings have been instituted. Attorney Miller does not participate in the investigation of complaints or prosecution of charges against judges. Those responsibilities remain the function of the Executive Director.

Marie-Bernarde Miller

Ms. Miller is Of Counsel with Williams & Anderson PLC. Her practice focuses primarily on business litigation, including employment law. Ms. Miller’s litigation experience has encompassed jury and bench trial prosecutions of felony cases as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Pulaski and Perry Counties; investigation and prosecution of nursing home abuse and fraud cases as the Deputy Attorney General, Director of the Arkansas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for Health Care Fraud issues. Ms. Miller represented the Arkansas Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission as its Special Counsel in 1999, and successfully prosecuted the removal of the first state court judge in the history of the Arkansas judiciary (Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission v. Morris W. Thompson, Case No. 99-1443 (2000)). She is a former Sister of Mercy and taught American Government, American History and Religious Studies at Mount Saint Mary Academy, Little Rock, Arkansas, the oldest educational institution in continuous operation in Arkansas. In 2007, Ms. Miller was one of six nominees whose names were submitted to President George W. Bush to fill the position of United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Maryville College (University), St. Louis, MO, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law, Lawrence, KS.