Former Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has joined the staff of law firm Preti Flaherty, and will be working in the firm’s Augusta litigation group, said a media release.

Mills, who has practiced law in Maine for about 35 years, became attorney general in January 2009 and lost the position in December 2010 when the new Republican majority chose William Schneider for the post.

Earlier, she was state representative for the towns of Farmington and Industry, and worked for 15 years as district attorney for Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties. She also worked as a lawyer at a law firm in Skowhegan.

Mills has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a degree from the University of Maine School of Law.

In January she was elected vice chair of the Maine Democratic Party.