Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod

Jennifer Walker Elrod is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was nominated to the Fifth Circuit in 2007, and she served as a Circuit Judge on the court until assuming the role of Chief Judge earlier this month. Prior to her tenure on the Fifth Circuit, Judge Elrod was appointed and then twice elected Judge of the 190th Civil District Court of Harris County, Texas, where she spent over five years presiding over more than 200 jury and non-jury trials.

Judge Elrod received her B.A. magna cum laude in Economics from Baylor University, where she was named the Outstanding Graduating Senior in the Honors Program and later an Outstanding Young Alumna. She then graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an Ames Moot Court finalist and a Senior Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She clerked for the Honorable Sim Lake in the Southern District of Texas. Before serving as a judge, Judge Elrod worked in private practice, focusing on civil litigation, antitrust, and employment matters.

Judge Elrod currently serves as the Jurist-in-Residence at South Texas College of Law, where she teaches civil procedure and First Amendment law. She also serves as a member of the the American Law Institute, the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the Executive Committee of Houston’s Garland R. Walker Inn of Court. Judge Elrod recently completed a term as the Chair of the Committee on Codes of Conduct for the Judicial Conference of the United States, and she has previously served as the M.D. Anderson Visiting Public Service Professor at the Texas Tech University School of Law, Jurist-in-Residence at Brigham Young University Law School, and a writing lecturer at the University of Houston Law Center. She has also served on BYU Law School’s Board of Visitors.

Judge Elrod is actively engaged in the academic and legal communities, and has written articles on artificial intelligence, the importance of pro bono work and community service, and juries.