--- title: "Nannette Jolivette Brown | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/nannette-jolivette-brown" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-07" --- # Nannette Jolivette Brown U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana · Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana - State: Louisiana - Role: Judge - Service status: active - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge. ## Biography ### Professional career - Judge, District Court, E.D. Louisiana, 2011-present - Judge · court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana · appointment date: 2011-10-04 · nominated by: Barack Obama · nomination date: 2011-03-02 · confirmation date: 2011-10-03 · years: 2011-present - Chief Judge · court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana · years: 2018-2025 · start date: 2018-05-15 · end date: 2025-05-15 - She held the role of Chief Judge of the court from May 15, 2018, until May 15, 2025, becoming the first African American woman and the first African American Chief Judge in the court’s 200-year history - United States district judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent - Visiting assistant clinical professor — Loyola University New Orleans College of Law · location: New Orleans, Louisiana · years: 2007-2009 - Assistant professor — Southern University Law Center · years: 1998-2000 - Director — New Orleans Department of Sanitation · location: New Orleans, Louisiana · years: 1994-1996 - First African American woman on the Eastern District of Louisiana’s federal bench and first African American Chief Judge there ### Education - Tulane University of Louisiana — LL.M. (1998) - Tulane University Law School — Energy and Environment — LL.M. (1998) - Tulane University of Louisiana — J.D. (1988) - Tulane University Law School — Law — J.D. (1988) - B.A. — University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) — 1985 — English Journalism ### Additional information - Private practice, New Orleans, LA, 1994-present - Nominated: March 2, 2011, to replace Judge Stanwood Duval - City attorney, New Orleans, LA, 2010-2011 - City attorney — City of New Orleans · location: New Orleans, Louisiana · years: 2010-2011 - Private practice, New Orleans, LA, 2000-2010 - Private practice — New Orleans, Louisiana · location: New Orleans, Louisiana · years: 1988-1992, 1994, 2000-2010 - Private practice, Lafayette, LA, 1996-1998 - Private practice — Lafayette, Louisiana · location: Lafayette, Louisiana · years: 1996-1998 - Teaching fellow — Tulane University Law School · years: 1992-1994 - Private practice, New Orleans, LA, 1988-1992 - Born November 19, 1963, in Lafayette, Louisiana. - Date of birth: 1963-01-01 - She has received multiple awards, including the Sarah T. Hughes Civil Rights Award and the Ernest Morial Award - Brown is active in judicial and professional organizations, including the ABA National Conference of Federal Trial Judges, Federal Judges Association, and National Bar Association. - Birth place: Lafayette, LA ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### civil remote testimony Scope: courtwide In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards. Evidence excerpt: For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location. [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### criminal recording and broadcasting Scope: courtwide Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception. Evidence excerpt: Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom. [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1393771) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1393771) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1393771) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/425/nannette-jolivette-brown/) - [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) - [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/425/nannette-jolivette-brown/) - [Wikidata: Nannette Jolivette Brown](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6963827) - [Supplied Louisiana biography research](https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/nannette-jolivette-brown) - [Supplied Louisiana biography research](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannette_Jolivette_Brown) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/425/nannette-jolivette-brown/) - [Wikidata: Nannette Jolivette Brown](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6963827) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/nannette-jolivette-brown", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/nannette-jolivette-brown", "name": "Nannette Jolivette Brown | KnowJudges", "description": "Nannette Jolivette Brown, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. 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Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-civil-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27. - [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-8721a344fececced2257fe1d) — Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.