Hon. Susan R. Miles (Ret.) was a judge for the 10th Judicial District Court of Minnesota in Washington County. She was elected to the bench in 1996. Miles retired in 2018 and was subsequently assigned to serve as a statewide senior judge on July 1, 2021.
The 10th Judicial District includes Anoka, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Pine, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright Counties.
During her judicial tenure, Miles served as Assitant Chief Judge of the 10th Judicial District.
Prior to her election, she was in private practice at Hessian, McKasy & Soderberg (1989 to 1996) and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi (1986 to 1989). Before entering private practice, Miles worked as an attorney at the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel (1985), the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (1982 to 1985), the National Consumer Law Center (1981 to 1982), and Legal Assistance of North Dakota (1978 to 1981).
She received a B.S. in consumer economics from the University of Maryland in 1975. Miles went on to complete a J.D. at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in 1978.
Her memberships have included the Minnesota District Judges Association (past president), the Minnesota Women Lawyers (past president), the Minnesota State Bar Association (Board of Governors), the Minnesota District Judges Foundation (past president), and the American Bar Association (Fellow).
Miles has also sat as a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court Appellate Panel, the 10th Judicial District Equal Justice Committee, the Minnesota Supreme Court Legal Certification Board, the Minnesota Supreme Court Civil Justice Reform Task Force, the Washington County Community Services Advisory Board, the 10th Judicial District Administration and Finance Committee, and the DHS Task Force on Financing the Future of Child Welfare.
She was on the faculty at the Institute for Excellence in Judicial Education and served as an investigator for the Hennepin County District Ethics Committee.
From a civic standpoint, Miles has been involved with the Canvas Health Board of Directors, White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church, the Minnesota Hunter & Jumper Association, the United States Hunter and Jumper Association, the Sylmar Chamber Ensemble Board of Directors, Second Harvest/St. Paul Food Bank, the Minnesota Association of Cable Television Administrators Board of Directors, and the Minnesota Broadcasters Board of Directors.
She received the MDJA President’s Award (2014), the Tubman/Verizon Hope Line Community Award (2015), and the Elmer H. Wilbishauser Author’s Award from the Publications Committee of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s “Bench & Bar” publication.
Miles is qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction by the University of Massachusetts Medical School Center for Mindfulness.