Judge Bowbeer was appointed a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota in June 2014. Prior to her appointment, she was an Assistant Chief Intellectual Property Counsel with 3M Company, where she managed IP litigation both in the U.S. and internationally. Judge Bowbeer received her law degree from the University of Michigan in 1979. Following her graduation, she clerked for the Minnesota Supreme Court before entering private practice. In 1985, she became one of the seven founding partners of Bowman and Brooke, and had a national practice in product liability litigation before joining 3M in 1997. Judge Bowbeer is a judicial advisor to The Sedona Conference and has contributed to its projects on Electronic Discovery, Patent Litigation Best Practices, and Trade Secret Litigation Best Practices. She serves on the Federal Practice Committee for the District of Minnesota and co-authored the District’s Guide for Practitioners on electronic discovery. She is also a member of the American Law Institute and the Hon. Jimmie V. Reyna Intellectual Property Inn of Court. She has authored a number of articles and speaks frequently in the U.S. and abroad on IP litigation management, electronic discovery, diversity and inclusion, and ADR.