Judge Rothstein was appointed to the federal bench in 1980 and served as Chief Judge of the Western District of Washington from 1987 to 1994. In 2003, she was appointed Director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington,D.C., by the Board of the Center, chaired by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Before her appointment to the federal bench in 1980, she served as a King County Superior Court judge for the State of Washington. Judge Rothstein has presided over many complex and controversial criminal and civil cases, and has served on a variety of committees including the Federal-State Relations Committee of the United States Judicial Conference and the Ninth Circuit Standing Committee on Gender, Race, Religious and Ethnic Fairness. She is a frequent lecturer and is a member of the American Law Institute. Judge Rothstein currently sits on the boards of American Law Institute-American Bar Association and the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association, as well as serving on The Sedona ConferenceŽ Judicial Advisory Board.

Barbara Jacobs Rothstein is on the Advisory Board for The Sedona Conference.