Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez

Irma Carrillo Ramirez was sworn in as judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on December 11, 2023. She had previously served as a United States magistrate judge for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, since 2002. 

Prior to her judicial service, she was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, where she spent time in both the criminal and civil divisions, and an associate attorney in the general commercial litigation section of the law firm of Locke Purnell Rain Harrell LLP.  

She received her law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law, Dallas, Texas, where she was a Sarah T. Hughes Diversity Fellow, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Texas State University, Canyon, Texas. 

Judge Ramirez has received the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Issues Section Judge of the Year Award, the Dallas Women Lawyers Association’s Louise B. Raggio Award, the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Judicial Service, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association’s La Luz Achievement Award, the SMU Women in Law Distinguished Alumna Award, a Federal Executive Board Public Service Award, the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers’ Outstanding Mentor Award, and the SMU Law School Board of Advocates Coach of the Year Award. 

She is a member of SMU Dedman School of Law’s Executive Board and the SMU Law Review Association Advisory Board, and she has previously served two terms on the Board of Trustees for the Texas Center for Legal Ethics, including as the chair in 2019. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation; a sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Dallas Bar Foundation, the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers; a master in the William “Mac” Taylor Inn of Court; an SMU community fellow; and a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the Dallas Bar Association, the Dallas Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and the Federal Magistrate Judges Association.