Judge Hall was sworn in as a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut on October 14, 1997. She received an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College in 1970 and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1973 where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar. In 2007, she received a Doctor of Laws (Hon. Caus.) from Quinnipiac University.

From 1980 until her appointment in 1997, Judge Hall was first an Associate, and then named Partner (1982), in the Law Firm of Robinson & Cole in its Hartford office, where she concentrated her practice in Civil Litigation. Prior to 1980, she served in the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division from 1975-80, except for a period in 1979 as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. After graduation from law school, she was associated with the firm of Hale & Dorr in Boston from 1973-75.

Judge Hall served as Chief Judge for the District of Connecticut from September 9, 2013 through August 31, 2018. She also served on the Federal-State Jurisdiction Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 2004 to 2011, including serving 4 years (2007-2011) as Chair. She is currently a member of the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, having served since June 2021.

Active in both the Federal Bar Council and the Connecticut Bar Association, Judge Hall served as Chair of the Federal Bar Council from 1995-97. She has served as Trustee of Mount Holyoke College (1970-1973, 1997-2000), and as President of the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. Judge Hall also served as a Director of the Connecticut Bar Foundation (1992-97, 2012-21).