Chief Judge Priscilla Richman joined the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2005 after serving on the Supreme Court of Texas for more than ten years. Born in Matagorda County, Texas, she attended primary and secondary schools in Waco, Texas. She earned her B.A. degree cum laude in 1976 from Baylor University and her J.D. cum laude in 1977 from Baylor Law School, where she was a member of the Baylor Law Review.

Before becoming a Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas in 1995, Chief Judge Richman was with the firm of Andrews & Kurth for seventeen years, based in Houston, where she was a partner practicing primarily in the commercial litigation area, with some appellate work, administrative law matters, and a smattering of corporate finance. She became Chief Judge of the 5th Circuit in 2019.