Ellen M. Miller is the Associate Executive Director, Initiatives and External Relations, for the California Lawyers Association (“CLA”), California’s new voluntary statewide bar association, where she provides strategic direction and program/service development and oversight in several bar wide areas including Access to Justice, Civics Engagement and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She also established, oversees and maintains a variety of external relationships on behalf of CLA including managing the bar relations function. 

Ellen is a collaborative, creative leader with extensive experience in organizational management, policy development, program and service implementation, advocacy, stakeholder engagement and strategic planning. A trained mediator and facilitator, Ellen has a proven ability to develop strong, effective partnerships and sustainable solutions. Prior to joining CLA, she was the Executive Director/CEO of the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA), California’s second largest voluntary, regional bar where she oversaw the implementation of a myriad of programs and initiatives to support the Association’s 10,000+ members. Prior to joining the SDCBA, Ellen served as Section Director of the American Bar Association’s Section of Dispute Resolution in Washington D.C. 

Her current volunteerism includes serving as Vice President for the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE), as a Commissioner on the California Access to Justice Commission and locally on the Board of the Crawford Law Academy and Foundation. 

She graduated with high honors from the University of California, San Diego and was recognized as one of the university’s Research Scholars.