Hon. Karen Wells Roby

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana

Judge Roby is the Chief United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She has served on the court for twenty years where she handles criminal and civil matters and also serves as a mediator. She is a Division Director for the ABA’s Litigation section and is formerly the Co-Chair of the ABA Litigation Section, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and former Co-Chair of the Section’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. In 2012, Judge Roby served as President of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association (“FMJA”), a national organization of over 600 U.S. Magistrate Judges across the country. As President of the Association she worked to secure pay raises for all active and recently retired federal magistrate judges. Judge Roby is a frequent speaker on various legal topics and she has had over hundreds of speaking engagements throughout the United States during her career. She is also published in the areas of social media and ethics, settlement and ethics, and attorney’s fees. Judge Roby serves as an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University Law School where she teaches a course on E-Discovery and Digital Evidence.