The Honorable Karen Gren Scholer was sworn in as a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas on March 7, 2018, after being confirmed by the United States Senate 95-0. She has the distinct honor of being nominated to be an Article III judge by two different Administrations for two different Districts – by President Trump for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas) and by President Obama for the Eastern District of Texas (Plano). She is the first Asian American federal district judge in Texas and the entire Fifth Circuit.

Before her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Scholer was both a trial lawyer and state trial judge. She was elected as Judge of the 95th District Court for two terms, serving from 2001 to 2008. While on the state court bench, Judge Scholer served as the Presiding Judge of the Dallas County Civil District Judges in 2007 and was appointed by the Governor of the State of Texas to serve as a temporary Justice on the Tenth Court of Appeals.

In private practice, Judge Scholer was a co-managing and named partner at litigation boutique law firm Carter Scholer (2014-2018) and a litigation partner at Jones Day (2009-2013), Andrews & Kurth (1996-2000), and Strasburger & Price (1982-1996). She was repeatedly recognized as one of the top lawyers in Texas, selected for inclusion in Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers® (Texas), D Magazine’s Best Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America. She was identified as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas by Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers® and earned the rating of AV Preeminent (5.0 out of 5) Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell. She was honored by the Texas Lawyer as a 2019 Finalist for Attorney of the Year. Judge Scholer is the 2022 recipient of the Dallas Bar Foundation’s Fellows Justinian Award.

Over her long career, Judge Scholer has received numerous other honors for professional excellence and dedication to community service, including the Dallas Women Lawyers Association Louise Raggio Award, the Dallas Asian American Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award and Judicial Trailblazer Award, the Dallas Fort Worth Asian American Citizens Council Chair’s Award and Civil Servant of the Year Award, the Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce Judicial Excellence Award, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Trailblazer Award. Judge Scholer is a former chair and Life Benefactor Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. She has served as co-chair of Attorneys Serving the Community and in leadership positions in the Dallas Bar Association and State Bar of Texas. In demand as a speaker and panelist, she has been honored as the keynote speaker to many audiences. J

udge Scholer is a graduate of Rice University and Cornell University Law School. She has served on the board of directors for the Association of Rice Alumni and the Cornell Law Association Executive Board.