Part of the District Court for the Southern District of Texas (one of the busiest district courts in terms of criminal felony filings),  Lee H. Rosenthal is a district judge in the county of Houston from 1990 to 2005.
She was nominated to the district court by President George H. W. Bush on March 20, 1992, was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 12, 1992, and received her commission on May 13, 1992. 
She became Chief Judge on November 13, 2016. 
She has received the Houston Bar Association's highest bar-poll evaluation for judges three times  in 1999, 2005 and 2007. 
