[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18870-18871]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING MURIEL ELLIS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 11, 2014

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. 
Muriel Ellis, who has been blazing through Mississippi's legal system.
  Mrs. Ellis, 54, became the first African American clerk of 
Mississippi's Supreme Court and Court of Appeals on July 1 this year, 
after being the first African American Supreme Court deputy clerk and 
chief deputy clerk.
  Mrs. Ellis worked her way through the clerk's office for 23 years 
after beginning as a legal clerk in 1991. The Callaway High School 
alumna, who graduated in 1977, became chief deputy clerk in 2009 after 
being named a team leader in 2000 and deputy clerk in 2007.
  The Jackson native said she is blessed and honored to accept her new 
position. ``I am just going to lead the clerk's office forward,'' she 
said. Mrs. Ellis took courses at Phillips Business College and worked 
as a ward secretary for St. Dominic Hospital from 1979-1987.
  Mrs. Ellis has seen many changes since working in the clerk's office. 
Along with Ms. Kathy Gillis, former Mississippi Supreme Court Clerk of 
33 years, Mrs. Ellis supervised the office's transition to electronic 
filing. Since the office's mandatory e-filing for briefs and motions 
began on Jan. 1, 2014, she continues to work on the electronic 
transition through implementing emailed orders and clerk's notices, as 
well as e-filing transcripts and records from other trial courts.
  The clerk became interested in a career in the legal system when she 
was serving as an alternate juror in the Hinds County Circuit Court. 
While working in the billing edits department at the City of Jackson 
Water Department, she said she drove past the Supreme Court building 
all the time on her way to the Water Department office, which is also 
located on High Street. ``I never knew what this building was, but I 
used to say: ``That is a pretty building. I would love to work there 
someday,'' Mrs. Ellis said.
  Mrs. Ellis has three children: Karen Ellis Evans, Kimberly Ellis and 
Leonard Ellis; three grandchildren: Madison Evans, Leonard Ellis, III 
and Bryson Williams--and is married to Mr. Leonard Ellis, Sr.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mrs. 
Muriel Ellis.

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