Judge Wendy Vitter became the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on May 15, 2025, succeeding Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown, who completed her seven-year term of service to the Court. Per 28 U.S.C. §136, “The chief judge shall have precedence and preside at any session which [s]he attends.” In addition, the chief judge is the Court’s leader of administrative operations who bears many budgetary, financial, and reporting responsibilities.

Chief Judge Vitter was sworn in as a U.S. District Judge for Eastern District of Louisiana on May 30, 2019.  Immediately prior to her judicial appointment, she served as General Counsel for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the first in its history.  In that role, she provided counsel to the Archdiocese as well as various associated entities, including Catholic Charities, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Clarion Herald, Notre Dame Seminary, and more than 100 elementary and high schools.  

Chief Judge Vitter previously worked as an associate at Abbott & Meeks Law Firm, which specialized in maritime litigation. Prior to that role, she served as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, trying more than 100 jury trials, with a specialty in homicide prosecutions. At the time she left the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, she was Chief of the Trials Division, overseeing the trial attorneys in ten sections of Criminal District Court. 

Chief Judge Vitter earned her B.A. degree from Sam Houston State University and graduated from Tulane University Law School. She and her husband David, both New Orleans natives, are avid pickleball players but are most passionate about their four adult children and their spouses. She is also a proud new grandmother to twin boys.

The Court congratulates Chief Judge Vitter and looks forward to her service.