Judge Robert Summerhays was appointed to the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana by President Trump in September 2018. Prior to this appointment, Judge Summerhays served as the Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Western District of Louisiana. Judge Summerhays was previously a partner in the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where his primary practice area was federal court litigation. Judge Summerhays served as a law clerk for Judge W. Eugene Davis (U.S. Court of Appeals) in Lafayette from 1994 to 1995. Judge Summerhays received his law degree in 1994 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was an Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review.