Senior District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer was appointed to the Northern District of Illinois by President William J. Clinton in 1998. She served as Chief Judge from 2019 to 2024, becoming the first woman to serve as Chief Judge in the court's 200-year history. She assumed senior status on August 1, 2024.
Judge Pallmeyer was born on September 13, 1954, in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in St. Louis, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor. She clerked for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Rosalie E. Wahl from 1979 to 1980, then was in private practice in Chicago at Hopkins & Sutter from 1980 to 1985. She served as an administrative law judge on the Illinois Human Rights Commission from 1985 to 1991 (or 1986 to 1991). She then served as U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois from 1991 to 1998 before being elevated to district judge. She was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 2019 to 2021.
Education
- University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1979
- Valparaiso University, B.A., 1976
Career
- Senior District Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (2024–present)
- Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (2019–2024)
- District Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (1998–2024)
- U.S. Magistrate Judge, Northern District of Illinois (1991–1998)
- Administrative Law Judge, Illinois Human Rights Commission (1985–1991)
- Private practice, Hopkins & Sutter, Chicago (1980–1985)
- Law Clerk, Justice Rosalie E. Wahl, Minnesota Supreme Court (1979–1980)