PORTLAND – Susan J. Bell, a former legislator and senior advisor to former Gov. Angus S. King, has joined Bernstein Shur Government Solutions as senior project manager.

Bell, who most recently served as director of the Office of Clerks of Court for the Maine State Judicial Branch in Augusta, brings an extensive career of public service to Bernstein Shur Government Solutions, a consulting subsidiary of the regional law firm Bernstein Shur. BSGS helps a wide range of clients find solutions to complicated regulatory, legislative, and political issues.

A resident of Augusta, Bell provided strategic counsel and policy to Gov. King from 1995 to 2003, serving on the Governor’s Executive Management Team.

In 1992, she was selected by Gov. John McKernan as the first woman in the United States to serve as director of the Maine Forest Service, and previously served as Deputy Commissioner of the Maine Department of Conservation from 1987 to 1992. She also served three terms in the Maine House of Representatives from 1980 to 1986, representing the towns of Buckfield, Hebron, Paris, and West Paris.

In her new post, Bell will serve clients who require representation or coordination with the Departments of Education or Health and Human Services. Current projects include the Maine Readiness Campaign, a project with the Mitchell Institute and the Department of Education that focuses on high school reform.

A former biology teacher, Bell is a 1970 cum laude graduate of the University of Maine. She received a master’s degree in public pdministration in 1993 and a master’s in teaching in 1971. She currently serves on the board of the Seven Islands Land Co., and served formerly as vice president of the Kennebec Valley YMCA Board of Directors and as a director of the University of Maine Alumni Association.

In 1986, Bell was selected as Citizen of the Year by the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.