School Story
After graduating from Mandan High, I spent three semesters at Dallas Baptist College in Dallas, Texas. In January of 1974, I transferred to the University of Texas at Austin (Go Longhorns!). I graduated with a B.A. in government in December of 1975. In June of 1976, I began law school at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. I graduated with my J.D. degree in December of 1978 and was licensed to practice law in Texas in May of 1979. It was in law school that I met my husband and we were married in November of 1979. My first job was representing inmates incarcerated in the Texas prison system. Then I spent 2 1/2 years working as a legal aid lawyer in southeast Texas where I encountered poverty and racism like nothing I had ever seen before. I also spent 6 1/2 years working as a research attorney for a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and it was there I realized that I loved criminal law. And so in 1988, I left that wonderful job and opened my own practice as a criminal defense attorney. I have been working as a criminal defense attorney in Austin, Texas for the last thirty-four years and in that capacity have represented thousands of individuals charged with everything from the lowest misdemeanor offense all the way up to death penalty cases. My practice has consisted of both a trial practice and an appellate practice. I am still working but I have reduced my caseload considerably in the last two years and am doing mostly appellate work.
Along the way I had 3 great kids, who have now blessed me with 5 grandchildren and another due in June of 2022. I was divorced in 1998 but my ex-husband and I lived only three blocks from each other and co-parented our kids and remained close friends and officemates. He passed away last year.
I love doing anything outdoors. I am a cyclist, hiker, gardener and took up lap swimming several years ago.
