U.S, Magistrate Judge Becky R. Thorson was appointed to the bench in 2014. Prior to her appointment, she was a partner at Robins Kaplan Miller and Ciresi, and before that at Greene Espel. Judge Thorson graduated summa cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law—now Mitchell Hamline—and has been an adjunct professor at the law school at various times since 1997. She currently serves on the Board of Mitchell Hamline School of Law and is chair of its Admissions and Marketing Committee. She is also a member of Mitchell Hamline’s IP Advisory Committee. Judge Thorson has been active in the Federal Bar Association, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Federal Lawyer from 2012 to 2015 and as Chapter president in 2005-06. She currently co-chairs the Chapter’s Mass Tort and Class Action Committee. She was appointed to the Federal Practice Committee, District of Minnesota, in 2008, and was appointed Chair in 2014. She is engaged in legal education as a presenter or teacher locally and abroad, most recently assisting judges in Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. Recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she presented remotely at a program sponsored by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for judges and lawyers in Brazil.