[2] In 1980, Rawlinson and Viveca Monet Woods became the first African American women admitted to practice law in Nevada.

[3][4] She had served as deputy district attorney and chief deputy for over 17 years in the office of the Clark County District Attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada,[5] as well as receiving law practice as a clerk at Kiefer Clark & O'Reilly and other legal services throughout the United States prior to her appointments.

[citation needed] In 2016, Judge Rawlinson received a Master of Judicial Studies degree from Duke University School of Law.

[8] Rawlinson subsequently took the oath of office on the same day, becoming the first African American woman to sit on the Ninth Circuit.

On April 14, 2022, news reports stated Rawlinson suggested she would consider assuming senior status, creating a vacancy for her seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, if Berna Rhodes-Ford, former law clerk and wife of Aaron D. Ford, would be nominated as her successor.