In 1939, Congress required the senior (later chief) judge of each circuit to call an annual conference of all circuit and district judges “for the purpose of considering the state of the business of the courts and advising ways and means of improving the administration of justice within the circuit.” The statute, which also created the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, formalized what had already been taking place informally in some circuits since the 1920s. Circuit conferences were aimed in part at facilitating the exchange of ideas and addressing disparities in procedural and administrative practices between districts in the same circuit. In the 1940s, circuit conferences established committees to discuss subjects pending before the Judicial Conference of the United States and to advise the relevant Judicial Conference committees of their views. In 1948, Congress mandated that the courts of appeals make rules providing for representation and active participation in circuit conferences by members of the bar. The provision requiring annual circuit conferences was amended in 1990 to permit annual or biennial conferences. In addition to considering matters of judicial administration, circuit judicial conferences select the U.S. district judge who, along with the circuit’s chief judge, will represent the circuit on the Judicial Conference of the United States.