Federal judicial service: On the recommendation of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jones was nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by President Bill Clinton on October 18, 1995 to a seat vacated by Judge Kenneth Conboy. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1995, and received commission on December 26, 1995. Jones assumed senior status on December 31, 2012. During her 16-year term in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Jones presided over a diverse range of cases, including accounting and securities fraud, antitrust, fraud and corruption involving city contracts and federal loan programs, labor racketeering and terrorism. In May 2010, Judge Jones was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to serve on the seven-member Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation; she served on the panel until October 2012. She retired from the court on 1/4/2013 to go into private practice. She now works on white collar and financial fraud cases as a partner in the New York office of Bracewell LLP.