SRP Council Division 5 District & Association
Roberta Neil Miller grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and has lived in Tempe for over 30 years. She has spent her career practicing law in Maricopa County and is an outspoken activist who helps, encourages and facilitates community and neighborhood engagement with Tempe political and governmental leadership.
After graduating from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 1983, Roberta became the City of Chandler’s first full-time City Prosecutor. She set up the previously nonexistent office, developed policies and procedures, and advised the police department and other enforcement offices in the city such as the fire department and code enforcement. She was appointed to the Department of Health Services Blood and Alcohol Advisory Committee where she helped draft DUI legislation, and she was appointed by governor Bruce Babbit to the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council where she worked on and helped pass victim’s rights legislation. After leaving the City of Chandler, she went on to work as a prosecuting attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office where she prosecuted a number of different types of cases, including felony DUI and manslaughter, sex crimes, gang cases, and general violent crime. She was awarded the Southeast Maricopa County Prosecutor of the Year in 1997.
After leaving the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, Roberta took a hiatus from practicing law and obtained a Master of Arts in Archeology from ASU, specializing in Mesoamerican Archaeology, while at the same time working as a pro tempore judge with the Maricopa County Superior Court, the Tempe City Court and Mesa City Court. She returned to the practice of law in 2009 and opened up a private practice office in Tempe where she worked as a criminal defense lawyer for private clients, represented private clients in family law cases, and also performed indigent defense representation for the City of Apache Junction. She then went to work for the Pinal County Attorney’s Office where she worked as a civil deputy representing the Assessor’s Office and Treasurer’s Office, after which she rejoined the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office where she did civil litigation representing the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office in property tax cases, Maricopa County in mental health civil commitment cases, and the Maricopa County Department of Transportation and Flood Control District in eminent domain cases. After retiring from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in 2018, she ran for the Office of the Maricopa County Clerk of the Superior Court, and was afterward recruited to work as a civil litigator for a Tempe plaintiff’s personal injury law firm.
Roberta was elected the Chair of her Neighborhood Association in 2010 of one of the largest Neighborhood Association’s in Tempe, where she, in conjunction with other members of the Board and community, have authored numerous grants that planted over 100 trees in residential front yards in her neighborhood, and helped transform College Avenue, a secondary arterial street, into a shady, tree-lined corridor. She is an active member of Democracy for Tempe/Tempe 1st, advocating for sustainable growth, local businesses, and neighborhood preservation.
