Professional Recognition
The Honorable Melissa Miller-Byrnes is a graduate of the New Mexico State University with bachelor’s degree in Government and minor in Spanish. Having obtained her juris doctorate of law degree from the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul Minnesota, Hon. Melissa Miller-Byrnes returned to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she was the City’s prosecutor for ten years. Additionally, in 2006, Hon. Melissa Miller-Byrnes became a Certified Court Executive and Fellow of the Institute for Court Management through the National Center for State Courts, in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Hon. Melissa Miller-Byrnes is a twenty year member of the New Mexico Municipal League, and has been a member of the New Mexico Municipal Judges Association since 1999. Currently, she is the Vice President of the New Mexico Municipal Judges Association having served as Second Vice President of that organization in 2009-10, and she is the designated President-elect for the year 2011-12. Membership of Other organizations include: the National Association for State Judicial Educators (NASJE), American Bar Association (ABA), and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the Tonali Legal Alliance for Women. She was appointed by the NM Supreme Court to the NM Municipal Judges Advisory Committee.