Hon. Sarah S. Vance, U.S. District Judge, USDC-EDLA

The Honorable Judge Sarah S. Vance was appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 1994. She served as Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 2008 to 2015. Judge Vance was recently appointed by the Chief Justice to Chair the Civil Rules Advisory Committee and to serve on the Board of Editors to revise the Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth. She also serves on the Workplace Conduct Working Group, which studies the Judiciary’s workplace conduct rules and regulations and related issues. She is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, the Dean’s Advisory Board of Tulane Law School and the Louisiana Law Institute. Judge Vance previously served as the first woman Chair of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation and on the Board of Directors of the Federal Judicial Center. Judge Vance was a member of the Council of the ABA Antitrust Section and president of the New Orleans Chapter of the FBA. Judge Vance has taught on the adjunct faculty of Tulane Law School in the areas of civil procedure and alternative dispute resolution. In 2022, Judge Vance was awarded the Edward J. Devitt Award, the highest honor awarded to a sitting federal judge.

Before joining the bench, Judge Vance was a partner at the Stone Pigman law firm practicing in the areas of antitrust law and commercial litigation. Judge Vance is a graduate of Tulane Law School, where she was first in her class and managing editor of the law review. She was inducted into the Tulane Law School Hall of Fame. Judge Vance received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University, where she finished first in her class.