Born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, raised in Blackstone, Massachusetts. Deb always knew she wanted to be an attorney. Both of her parents worked in textile mills and wanted to ensure that their daughter had every opportunity to go to college and then to pursue a degree in law. She was able to attend Classical High School in Providence, commuting daily from Blackstone, Massachusetts!

One of the highlights of her legal career was to serve as President of the Rhode Island Bar Association from 1999 - 2000. At that time, the organization had in excess of 5000 lawyers as members.

In 2004, she became the only divorce attorney (and remains so) from Rhode Island to be elected and designated a Diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, of which there are approximately 100 members nationwide. Prior to that, in 1991, Deb became the first female from Rhode Island and only one of six attorneys to be elected and designated a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. In 1997, she was awarded the Distinguished Service Award. She has been on the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers since 2012 and is President of the Acadamy's newly formed Northeast States Chapter. In 2013, Deb was appointed by Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Judge, Paul Suttell, to the Board of Bar Examiners

Deb has been chosen by her peers, since inception in 2007 as a Rhode Island Super Lawyer as well as the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in New England.

Most recently, in 2009 and continuing, she is the Co-Editor of A Practical Guide to Divorce in Rhode Island which was published in 2009 and is a go-to guide for attorneys, judges, accountants, and mediators.

She participates in various 5K's, half-marathons as a walker, raising money for various charities. In 2009, she walked the Boston Marathon for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's Jimmy Fund walk.