She was a law clerk to Rosalie E. Wahl, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, from 1979 to 1980.

She was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois, from 1980 to 1985 at the law firm of Hopkins & Sutter.

She was an administrative law judge on the Illinois Human Rights Commission from 1985 to 1991.

Pallmeyer was nominated by President Bill Clinton on July 31, 1997, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Judge William Thomas Hart.

[5][6] She served as the chief judge from July 1, 2019 to August 1, 2024, when she assumed senior status.