Born on August 10, 1945 in Dallas, Texas, Harriet Ellan Miers is a prominent American lawyer and the 31st White House Counsel who held office from 2004 to 2007 under the Bush Administration. Harriet Miers obtained her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and her J.D. from Southern Methodist University in 1967 and 1970 respectively. Harriet Miers is currently a member of the Litigation and Public Policy sections of the American law firm Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, where she previously worked; from 1972 to 2001, the time when the firm was known by a different name.

In 1972, Harriet Miers was the first lady lawyer hired at the Dallas law firm Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely. In 1996, she became president of the firm, which was at that time named Locke Purnell Rain Harrell, and became the first woman president at that time to head a firm of around 200 attorneys in Texas. In 1999, she served as the co-managing partner when Locke Purnell merged with the Houston-based law firm Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon; until she left in 2001. As a lawyer specializing in trial litigation, she represented notable clients such as Walt Disney Co., SunGard Data Systems Inc., and Microsoft.

Among her many accomplishments, Harriet Miers became the first woman to become President of the Dallas Bar Association in 1986; the first female to chair the State Bar of Texas, where she served from 1992 to 1993; chair of the Board of Editors for the American Bar Association Journal; head of the American Bar Association’s “Commission on Multi-Jurisdictional Practice;” general member of the Dallas City Council in 1989 spanning two terms; and chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission from 1995 to 2000.

From 2001 to 2007, Harriet Miers served in the administration of President George W. Bush, wherein she served at the highest levels of government, being the Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary from 2001 to 2003, overseeing more than 60 employees in four departments; Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in 2003; and the White House Counsel, the chief legal adviser for the Office of the President, from 2004 to 2007. President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to serve on the US Supreme Court, but she withdrew her nomination after facing stiff Congressional opposition.

Harriet Miers has received several awards and recognitions including the “Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Professional Excellence” by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism in 2005 and “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by The National Law Journal in 2000.