Vicksburg’s Blake Teller has been appointed to the Access to Justice Commission.
Teller was appointed to the commission along with Chancellor Joseph Kilgore of Philadelphia and attorney Michael Carr of Cleveland.
Hinds Chancery Judge Tiffany Grove of Raymond and attorneys Julian Miller of Jackson and David Haadsma of Tupelo were reappointed to the commission.
Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Randolph issued the appointment order Thursday, June 27. The appointees will serve three-year terms set to end June 30, 2027.
The Supreme Court created the Access to Justice Commission in June 2006.
The commission works to develop and recommend policies, programs and initiatives that assist the judiciary in meeting needs for civil legal services to the poor.
The Access to Justice Commission assists low-income people through free family law clinics across the state.
The commission, through its website, www.msatjc.org , also provides information about family law, estate issues, assistance for the elderly and veterans, eviction and other housing issues, immigration law and workers’ rights
Judge Kilgore has served for 14 years on the Sixth District Chancery Court, which includes Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Kemper, Neshoba and Winston counties. He will leave the bench Wednesday, July 31, to join the law firm of Watkins & Eager, PLLC, in Jackson.
Kilgore served on the Commission on Guardianship and Conservatorship and was co-chair of the Guardianship of the Estate sub-committee.
He also served on the Mississippi Task Force on Foster Care and Adoption, the Attorney General’s Mental Health Task Force, the Guardian ad Litem Transparency and Oversight Panel, the Children’s Advocacy Center and the Secretary of State Probate Code Study Group.
He was the inaugural chair and a founding member of the Child Welfare and Advocacy Section of the Mississippi Bar.
Teller practices law in Vicksburg in the firm of Teller, Hopson & Schrader, LLP.
His practice includes personal injury, wrongful death, real estate, banking law, corporate law and governmental law. He regularly provides pro bono legal services to various organizations in the community.
Teller concluded his term as president of the Mississippi Bar in July 2023. He has served as a member of the Board of Bar Commissioners, as chair of the Real Property Section of the Mississippi Bar and as president of the Fellows of the Young Lawyers of the Mississippi Bar. He is a fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation.
He also served as president of the Board of Directors of the United Way of West Central Mississippi, the Rotary Club, the YMCA Board of Directors and the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce.
Teller earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Mississippi and a law degree from Vanderbilt University.
Carr serves on the Access to Justice Committee of the Mississippi Bar, where he was instrumental in creating and implementing a statewide rural clerkship program to encourage lawyers to practice in underserved rural areas.
He practices law in Cleveland. His practice areas include criminal defense and personal injury representation.
He also served as an adjunct professor at Delta State University, teaching constitutional law, criminal law, civil liberties and the judicial process.
Carr is founder of the recently created Criminal Defense Section of the Mississippi Bar.
He previously served as a bar commissioner from the 11th Circuit and has served on various Bar committees.
He is a member of the Mississippi Public Defenders Association and the JULIAN Legal Advisory Committee.
Carr earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and Spanish from the University of Mississippi and a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Judge Grove has served on the Access to Justice Commission since July 2020. She has served on the Hinds Chancery Court since January 2019.
Before she was elected to the chancery bench, she practiced law for more than 13 years in areas of general civil litigation, estate and fiduciary matters, banking, family law and personal injury litigation. The Mississippi Women Lawyers Association named her Outstanding Woman Lawyer of the Year in 2018.
She was chair of the Women in the Profession Committee of the Mississippi Bar for two years.
She is former chair of the Capital Area Bar Association, CABA. She is a graduate of the Honors College at the University of Southern Mississippi and earned a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law.
Miller has served on the Access to Justice Commission since July 2021. He is senior supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Economic Justice Practice Group in Jackson.
He is founding clinical director and adjunct professor for the Education Law and Policy Clinic at Mississippi College School of Law.
His former private practice included commercial, administrative, governmental, labor and employment, products liability, education and appellate litigation.
Miller is former program coordinator for Dreyfus Health Foundation and was founder and director of the Delta Fresh Foods Initiative and the Clutter 2 Compost Initiative.
He also helped found the Trinity Development Foundation and the Mississippi Chapter of Black Alliance for Educational Options.
Miller earned a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Haadsma has served on the Access to Justice Commission since September 2022.
He serves on the planning committee for civil legal clinics held in the eight-county First Chancery Court District and provides pro bono legal assistance at the two clinics held each year in Tupelo.
He also serves on the planning committee for the Themis Law Camp for high school students and participates as a volunteer at the annual law camp.
He is former president of the Lee County Bar Association.
Haadsma practices law in the firm of Riley, Caldwell, Cork & Alvis in Tupelo. His practice areas include general civil litigation, banking and finance, real estate and wills and estates.
Haadsma earned an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Mississippi and a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
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