Chief Magistrate Judge Janis van Meerveld has served the Eastern District of Louisiana since 2016. She obtained her undergraduate and law degrees from Tulane University, following which she spent 29 years in private litigation practice with Adams and Reese LLP, where she developed a specialization in labor and employment litigation. Since joining the federal bench, Judge van Meerveld has been extremely active in serving numerous bar associations, co-founding and chairing the New Orleans Federal Bar Association's Justice Camp program, co-editing The Advocate magazine, and coordinating legal programming. She regularly presents on harassment, discrimination, and implicit bias, and has won numerous awards and accolades for her CLEs and diversity initiatives. In 2023, she was appointed as the Fifth Circuit representative to the Magistrate Judges Advisory Group to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Since 2024, she has served as its Chair.