U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright was sworn in on September 4, 2018. She graduated from William Mitchell College of Law, valedictorian and summa cum laude, in 2006. Judge Wright previously earned a BS in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University and an MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, and worked as an engineer before law school. Before becoming a judge, Judge Wright was a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, where she was a patent litigator. Judge Wright is a registered patent attorney and speaks regularly about intellectual property law and discovery issues in complex litigation. Judge Wright is a member of the Honorable Jimmie V. Reyna Intellectual Property Inn of Court and a past member of the Editorial Board of the American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal. She is the current President of the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (2024-25).