(Annapolis, MD. — Jan. 8, 2009) Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals has been inducted into the Warren E. Burger Society, which honors individuals who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving the administration of justice through extraordinary contributions of service and support to the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). Judge Bell and other new members were inducted into the Burger Society at the NCSC Annual Recognition Luncheon in Washington, D.C.

Judge Bell has served on the Court of Appeals of Maryland since 1991, and was appointed chief judge by Gov. Parris Glendening in 1996. Judge Bell grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Dunbar High School. After he graduated from Morgan State College in 1966, Judge Bell studied law at Harvard University, earning his law degree there in 1969. He joined the bench in 1975 as an associate judge of the Baltimore City District Court. In 1980, he was appointed to the Baltimore City Circuit Court, where he served until 1984, when he was named to the Court of Special Appeals, representing the 6th Appellate Circuit (Baltimore City).

Judge Bell is a past president of the Conference of Chief Justices and a past chair of the NCSC Board of Directors. He has served on numerous leadership boards, including the boards of directors for Villa Julie College and the Sojourner-Douglass College, and chair of the Board of Directors of Provident Hospital. He is a member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland School of Law, and serves on the Board of Trustees for Johns Hopkins Medicine. He has received many awards, including the Maryland Top Leadership in Law Award from the Daily Record, the Rita C. Davidson Award from the Women's Bar Association of Maryland, and, from the American Bar Association, the Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access and D'Alemberte/Raven Award for Dispute Resolution.

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(Editor’s Note: A photo of Judge Bell is available to the media. For more information, please call the Court Information Office at (410) 260-1488 or e-mail Darrell.Pressley@mdcourts.gov.)