Judge Saris was appointed to the court in 1994. Prior to that she served as a state Superior Court judge, a U.S. Magistrate Judge, an Assistant U.S. Attorney (chief of civil), staff counsel on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and as a litigation associate at Foley Hoag & Eliot. Her cases have included Amgen v Genetics Institute; Festo; State Street, and other patent litigation in the biotech and semiconductor areas.