M. Yvette Miller, 1999-Date
Chief Judge: 2009-Date

Chief Judge M. Yvette Miller is the first African-American woman to serve as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. In October 2008, she was unanimously elected by her fellow judges to serve as Chief Judge for a two-year term, which began January 1, 2009. Chief Judge Miller was originally appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Roy Barnes on July 12, 1999, when she became the first African-American woman and 65th Judge on the Court. She has been re-elected statewide by the people of Georgia without opposition for two six-year terms, most recently in November 2006. Chief Judge Miller was sworn in for her current term by Governor Sonny Perdue on January 16, 2007.

Chief Judge Miller is a native Georgian. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Conrad N. Miller of Macon, Georgia, and she has one sibling, Conrad N. Miller, Jr., M.D., also of Macon. She received her B.A. degree, cum laude, from Mercer University in 1977 and her J.D. degree from Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law in 1980. Chief Judge Miller also earned an LL.M. degree in litigation from Emory University School of Law in 1988 and an LL.M. degree in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2004.

Chief Judge Miller has achieved many "firsts" in the course of her education and her distinguished legal career. While attending law school, she was selected as the first African-American woman to hold the title of “Miss Macon.” Chief Judge Miller was one of the first female prosecutors in Fulton County, where she began her career as an Assistant District Attorney and handled primarily serious felony rape and murder cases. She went on to represent the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) as senior in-house litigation counsel and was responsible for handling one-third of the agency’s civil litigation in the courts. Chief Judge Miller subsequently moved to South Georgia, where she served as part owner, general manager and general counsel of the first minority-owned new Ford Lincoln-Mercury automobile dealership in Jesup, Georgia. This business was also one of the first such minority-owned dealerships in the state. Even as she managed her many responsibilities at the dealership, Chief Judge Miller also developed a private legal practice and became the first African-American female attorney to practice in Jesup, Georgia and in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

In 1989, Chief Judge Miller began her tenure as an Administrative Law Judge with the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. In 1992, when Governor Zell Miller appointed her to serve as Director and Judge of the Appellate Division of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, Chief Judge Miller became the first woman, first African-American, and youngest person ever to hold that position. Four years later, Governor Miller appointed her to the State Court of Fulton County, and she was re-elected as a State Court judge without opposition in 1998.

Chief Judge Miller is a member of numerous professional and civic organizations, including the Atlanta Bar Association, the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys. She is a founding member of the Judicial Section of the Gate City Bar. Chief Judge Miller also serves on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal and the Advisory Board of the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia. She has served previously as chair of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, as Chair of the Supreme Court Commission on Public Trust and Confidence, as a Trustee of Leadership Georgia, on the Board of Visitors of Mercer Law School, and on the Board of Directors of the Judicial Section of the Atlanta Bar Association. Currently, she is a fellow of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, and she is a member of the Lamar Inn of Court, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, the Azalea City Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Chief Judge Miller has received many awards and special recognitions for her professional achievements and public service. She was inducted into the Gate City Bar Hall of Fame in October 2008. Chief Judge Miller was recognized for her accomplishments in Who’s Who in Black Atlanta from 2001 to 2008, and she was designated by the Georgia Informer as one of “Georgia’s Top 50 Influential Black Women” from 1991 to 2008. In 1997, she was awarded the Meritorious Service Award by the Mercer University Alumni Association. In 2006, Chief Judge Miller was selected as one of 20 American judges to attend the Sir Richard May Seminar on International Law and International Courts in The Hague, Netherlands. She frequently accepts invitations to lecture on various legal topics, including ethics, professionalism, and various aspects of appellate practice in Georgia, and has published numerous articles.

Chief Judge Miller resides in Vinings, Cobb County, and is a member of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta. She is also a life-long member of Steward Chapel AME Church in Macon, Georgia.