Judge Rothstein has served as Director of the Federal Judicial Center since 2003. She was nominated to the Bench by President Carter in 1980 to a new seat created for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and served as Chief Judge of the District from 1987-1994. Prior to that Judge Rothstein served on the Bench for the Superior Court of Washington from 1977-1980, with the Washington State Attorney General's Office, Assistant attorney general and chief trial attorney, Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division, from 1968-1977, and in private practice in Boston from 1966-1968.