The Hon. Miriam R. Best is an Acting Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the Twelfth Judicial District of New York. She was appointed to the Supreme Court seat in 2008. Justice Best was also appointed to serve as a judge for the Criminal Court of the City of New York by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2005 and was then reappointed by Mayor Bloomberg to the Criminal Court in 2013. Justice Best was originally appointed to serve as an interim Civil Court judge by Mayor Bloomberg in 2003.
She received her B.A. from Yale University in 1977. She went on to earn her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1981.
Best practiced briefly in private practice before spending the bulk of her legal career as a prosecutor in the public sector. After leaving the private arena in 1983, she became a prosecutor with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Then, in 1989, she would serve as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York assigned to the Criminal Division. She remained with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for ten years before then becoming a special narcotics prosecutor for the Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor in 1999. Two years later, she was back with the D.A.’s office, this time as a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office. Best held her position there until her appointment to the Civil Court in 2003.
Her memberships have included the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York County Lawyers’ Association American Inn of Court.