She is highly rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the attorney rating company, and has other accolades to her ability. She was not born to wealth however. She and her sister were the first in her family to gain college degrees. After college she worked in a number of jobs and had to work for a decade to save enough money to go to law school. She finished law school by attending evenings and weekends. She graduated in two and a half years with honors.