A native of Connecticut, my family moved to South Carolina when I was still a child. I received my English degree from the University of South Carolina in 1982 and my Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1990. 

Following law school, I clerked for a year in the juvenile department of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, where it was not uncommon to conduct hearings for as many as 100 children daily, either as delinquents, children in need of assistance or children in need of supervision. My final year of clerkship was in adult criminal court.    

In 1994, I joined the Office of the City Solicitor for Baltimore City and was assigned to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) where I worked directly with the director and HABC's chief of police. At the time, HABC was the fifth largest housing authority in the nation and was tackling urban revitalization amid rampant gang violence and drug wars. As counsel, I represented HABC in housing court, and in citizen review boards and administrative hearings on landlord/tenant issues, while providing advice and counsel on such diverse matters as lead paint abatement, community policing, contract review and labor contracts. 

I transferred from HABC to the Baltimore City Police Department in 1997. Representing a department with over 3,000 sworn officers in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the country presented numerous challenges while offering invaluable experience. I defended complex civil rights cases in state and federal court, prosecuted narcotics and gambling asset forfeiture cases, prosecuted officers in administrative disciplinary proceedings, and provided advice and counsel to senior command. 

After moving to Southern Oregon in 2000, I served as Lithia Auto Group’s first in-house counsel, providing advice in employment and consumer law to senior management and to more than 20 store managers across the West.  I also represented Lithia in Oregon State Bureau of Labor and Industries claims and at U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission disputes in multiple states, while conducting company-wide internal investigations of employee misconduct.

In pursuit of a meaningful career, I received my training in family law at the Center for Non-Profit Legal Services in Medford. As a sole practitioner for over a decade, I have built a solid reputation as a family law litigator throughout Southern and Central Oregon, providing advice, representation and advocacy to diverse clients and their families.