I graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island with a B.A. degree in American Studies.  I subsequently graduated from the College of Law at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.   I served as a staff attorney for Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, a legal aid office in Kentucky, for several years.  My next position was an assistant attorney general, consumer protection division, for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  Later I became a staff attorney for Legal Services of Southern Piedmont and Legal Aid of North Carolina, legal aid offices in Charlotte, before entering private practice. 

I have considered it an important part of my advocacy to be involved in projects that have an impact on the legal system and its participants.  For example, I have been a member of the Mecklenburg County Model Courts Advisory Committee, whose mission it is to set up best practices procedures in various areas of the law.  This work has included my active participation on several subcommittees involving mediation, mental health evaluations, and local rules of procedure.  I have been a faculty member for a Mecklenburg County Bar Association seminar involving the juvenile court abuse and neglect process.  I planned and facilitated a countywide conference on domestic violence.  In addition, I was a member of a team that drafted statutes enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in regard to appointing standby guardians to care for the minor children of terminally ill parents. I have also completed the forty-hour Dispute Resolution Commission-approved Family and Divorce Mediation training.