She is a 1988 graduate of Harvard College where she majored in Government. She then earned a law degree from Cornell Law School in 1991. She is a member of the Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Georgia and Florida Bars as well as several federal bars. For 13 years she worked as a Senior Trial Counsel for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission representing the SEC in courts throughout the United States. Prior to that she was in private practice at major firms in Washington, DC and Atlanta, Georgia.