Hon. Brenda Rhoades

Brenda Rhoades is a judge on the United States bankruptcy court, Eastern District of Texas, serving as chief judge from 2010 to 2017.

Education and Career

• Born in Seoul, Korea, Judge Rhoades immigrated to the United States with her family.
• Rhoades received her Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics from Texas A&M University and her J.D. from Arizona State University College of Law.
• Began her law career as a young associate with the Akin Gump firm and, later, as a partner with Baker Botts LLP.

Federal Judicial Service
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit selected Chief Judge Rhoades for appointment as a bankruptcy judge for the Eastern District of Texas at Plano in 2003. She is the first Asian American on the bankruptcy bench in the Fifth Circuit.