Judge Rosenthal was appointed United States District Court Judge in 1992. Before then, she was a partner at Baker Botts L.L.P. where she litigated civil cases. Judge Rosenthal served as law clerk to Chief Judge John R. Brown, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was appointed as a member of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules in 1996. Judge Rosenthal was chair of the Class Actions subcommittee during the development of the 2003 amendments to Rule 23. She has also served as chair of both the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure. Judge Rosenthal serves as an advisor for the Employment Law project and the Aggregate Litigation project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and she was an advisor for the Transnational Rules of Civil Procedure project. She was elected to the ALI Council and became chair of the Program Committee. Judge Rosenthal serves on the Board of Trustees of Rice University and on the Duke University School of Law Board of Visitors. She is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Center for American and International Law and President of the District Judges' Association of the Fifth Circuit.