Legal News

Miller Announces Retirement as Clerk of Quarter Sessions

By Brian Harris

By Amaris Elliott-Engel
Of the Legal Staff

Vivian Miller announced her retirement as Philadelphia Clerk of Quarter Sessions on Monday.
Miller, who is the clerk of the city's criminal courts, had endured a year of criticism leveled at her performance in office, particularly regarding alleged record-keeping lapses and poor management of the bail system.

She announced her retirement at a press conference, standing beside Mayor Michael A. Nutter, District Attorney Seth Williams and President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe of the First Judicial District.

Criticism of Quarter Sessions operations and a successor to Miller were not discussed during the announcement.

Miller said she is going in "peace, love and harmony."

When a question was directed to Miller about whether her decision to retire was connected to the criticism of her office, Nutter said that for the moment only Miller's retirement was being announced. Nutter refused to explore what would happen in the future in terms of who will run the office, and whether or not he would push for the office to no longer have an elected head. The mayor has commended the elimination of independently elected row offices in the past.

A press release distributed by the mayor's office said that no determinations regarding the functions of the office will be made until a joint review is conducted by the clerk's office, the FJD and the Nutter administration, while a press release distributed by Dembe's office said that Prothonotary Joseph Evers, clerk for civil cases and part of the FJD, "will be directing the transition of the clerk's office to the First Judicial District."

Miller, who has been in office since 1991, will retire effective March  31. Her term in office expires in 2011.

Dembe, who tried shortly after becoming president judge to unilaterally order the transfer of some of the Quarter Sessions' bank accounts to the First Judicial District, said that Miller should be honored for taking over a major governmental office at a time when it was not easy for a black woman to do so.

Dembe declined comment on whether Miller's retirement provided an opportunity to address the problems she sees in the office. Last October, Dembe told The Legal that the FJD and the clerk were discussing greater court involvement in processing criminal case files and collecting criminal justice remittances.

Robin T. Jones, Miller's daughter, said she plans to keep working in the office after Miller's retirement. Jones will run the office in the interim.

Gillison also declined to address specifics of succession planning, but he said the fact that all the leaders in the criminal justice system were present at the press conference showed the coordination behind the city's criminal justice policy.

A City Council ordinance, not a charter change, is required to change the management of Quarter Sessions by an independent, elected official.

City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, First Assistant Defender Charles Cunningham, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Everett Gillison and Quarter Sessions First Deputy Jones also stood with Miller at the press conference.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on March 08, 2010 (boomark / email).