Rebecca R. Pallmeyer graduated from Valparaiso University and the University of Chicago Law School.  Following a one-year clerkship with Justice Rosalie Wahl of the Minnesota Supreme Court, she practiced commercial litigation with a Chicago law firm. 
From 1985 until 1991, Judge Pallmeyer was an Administrative Law Judge with the Illinois Human Rights Commission, the quasi-judicial agency responsible for enforcement of the state's anti-discrimination laws.  Beginning in 1991, Judge Pallmeyer served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and then, following confirmation of her nomination in 1998, as United States District Judge.  On July 1, 2019, Judge Pallmeyer became Chief Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, the first woman to serve as chief in the court’s 200-year history.  
Judge Pallmeyer has been a member of the United States Judicial Conference. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an honorary fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. She is an active member of a number of bar organizations, including the Richard Linn American Inn of Court, an Inn focused on intellectual property law.