Wright Allen started her legal career as a
Judge Advocate General's Corps officer in the
United States Navy as an active duty officer between 1985 and 1990 and in the
United States Navy Reserve between 1992 and 2005. She was an
Assistant United States Attorney in the
Eastern District of Virginia from 2001 to 2005. Wright Allen joined the
Federal Public Defender's Office for the
Eastern District of Virginia in 2005, where she had served as a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender until becoming a federal judge in 2011. She received her judicial commission the following day. In her ruling, Allen inadvertently attributed the principle that "all men are created equal" to the
U.S. Constitution, rather than the
Declaration of Independence – an error which she corrected in a subsequent amended ruling. ==Personal life==