Appointed By: Judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The Hon. Jennifer E. Niemann is a judge for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California[1]. Niemann was appointed to the bench by the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on June 16, 2020[2].
Since joining the court, Niemann has served in the Fresno Division[1]. From 2022 to 2024, she served on the Ninth Circuit's Bankruptcy Judges Education Committee[3]. She was appointed to the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for a seven-year term commencing on August 18, 2025[4].
Niemann earned a bachelor's degree in economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986[5]. At Harvard Law School, she completed a J.D. in 1989[1]. At the University of Illinois, she served as an officer in the pre-law club and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa[5]. As a law student, Niemann participated in the Harvard Law School Drama Society. She was admitted to the State Bar of California (1989) and to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (1991) and the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California (1992).
After graduating from law school, Niemann began her legal career as a judicial law clerk to Thomas E. Carlson of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California[5]. She worked in that initial clerkship for two years. Niemann then entered private practice at Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe in San Francisco and Los Angeles[5]. During that period, her work included representation of Chapter 11 debtors, Chapter 11 trustees, and creditors in bankruptcy cases and out-of-court restructurings. Over fifteen non-contiguous years, her clerking work also included service with Arthur S. Weissbrodt and James R. Grube of the same court[5]. Her pre-bench career also included work as a senior legal auditor at Stuart, Maue, Mitchell & James, Ltd., in St. Louis, Missouri[5].
In 2012, Niemann joined Felderstein Fitzgerald Willoughby Pascuzzi & Rios LLP (2012 to 2020), in Sacramento, as of counsel[5]. While there, she represented Chapter 11 debtors, trustees, and creditors in bankruptcy cases and out-of-court restructurings[5]. She also represented the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton in its Chapter 11 case, which was filed in January 2014 and had a plan confirmed in early 2017[6].
Niemann was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was raised in a Chicago suburb[5]. Her father died when she was young, and her mother, a schoolteacher, raised Niemann and her two siblings[5].
Outside the courtroom, she and her husband, Erik, spent eighteen months traveling around the world after their marriage[5]. He worked in architecture and as an abstract artist.
[1] United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California — Judge Jennifer E. Niemann
[2] U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — Niemann Appointed (June 15, 2020)
[3] Sacramento Valley Bankruptcy Forum — 2024 Conference Materials, Part 001
[4] United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California — Jennifer E. Niemann BAP Appointment
[5] United States Courts — Judicial Milestones: Jennifer E. Niemann
[6] Receivership News — Spring 2021
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