Miller, Vega Samuel file in 14th Subcircuit

Associate Judge Stephanie Kathryn Miller and MALDEF Midwest Regional Counsel Griselda Vega Samuel filed nominating petitions for 14th Subcircuit vacancies this morning, Miller filing for the Pierce vacancy, and Vega Samuel filing for the O'Hara vacancy.

Neither candidate appears to have a campaign website at this time. I will keep looking.

The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Judge Miller to a vacancy in the old 6th Subcircuit in 2017. While she did not hold that seat in the 2018 election cycle, she was selected as an associate judge in 2018. She was retained as an associate judge earlier this year.

Miller was licensed to practice law in Illinois in 1999. An Assistant State's Attorney at the time of her appointment to the bench, Miller has also worked as an Assistant Public Guardian. She has also served as a member of the Board of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago and was a co-founder of the National LGBT Prosecutor’s Association. In addition, Miller has served as the treasurer of the National Hispanic Prosecutor’s Association, and the LGBT committee chair for the Hispanic Lawyers’ Association of Illinois.

Vega Samuel appears to be a first-time judicial candidate. Licensed to practice law in Illinois since 2008, according to ARDC, Vega Samuel became Midwest Regional Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 2018.

A biography included in the MALDEF press release announcing her appointment noted that Vega Samuel came to the organization "from Safe Horizon, where she was senior director of its Anti-Trafficking Program, the largest comprehensive service provider to survivors of human trafficking on the East Coast. Her legislative work includes being a member of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), as well as policy co-chair of the Freedom Network, a national coalition of more than 40 anti-trafficking service organizations and advocates."

According to MALDEF, Vega Samuel previously "worked at Global Workers Justice Alliance (GWJA) in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she identified, recruited, trained, and evaluated human rights organizations in Mexico for GWJA’s Defender Network, to properly serve the legal needs of their local migrant communities. Early in her legal career, she worked for Columbia Legal Services in Washington State, where she represented farmworkers in employment, civil rights, and class-action litigation, and worked to uphold consumer rights. She also worked for the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago, representing clients in family law, housing, and employment matters."