[1][2] After graduating from law school, Rosenthal completed a one-year clerkship with Chief Judge John Robert Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

[citation needed] Prior to 2007, Rosenthal was a member, then chair, of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

In 2007, the entire set of civil rules was edited to be clearer and simpler without changing substantive meaning.

[3][5] She is a member of the board of editors for the Manual for Complex Litigation, published by the Federal Judicial Center.

[3] She has received the Houston Bar Association's highest bar-poll evaluation for judges three times — in 1999, 2005 and 2007.