A graduate of University of Georgia School of Law and the University of Georgia, she began her legal career in 1967 as a Law Clerk to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Following several years in private practice in Birmingham, she became executive vice president, corporate secretary and general council of AmSouth Bank and AmSouth Bancorporation (now Regions Financial). After 21 years, she moved to New York where she was Executive Assistant to the Rector, The Parish of Trinity Church.