Technically this is my second (third?) career. Before I opened my solo law practice to offer Life, Legacy & Estate Planning and Equine Legal & Business Services, I did some other things…

I deployed to Iraq in 2009 as an Army helicopter pilot. While nightly flying over the barren, cracked earth of the country’s southern region, I was saddened to learn that the land below me was once the largest marshland in the world—the literal and biblical Garden of Eden.

Decades of war had destroyed the environment, intentionally and unintentionally, and the native people that once lived there in the hundreds of thousands were now merely hundreds. I originally became a lawyer because I wanted to protect those people, their heritage, and the environment from the scourge of war.

In 2010, I transitioned to the Army National Guard to pursue law and master’s degrees at Vermont Law School and Yale School of the Environment, respectively. I focused my studies on environmental human rights in conflict zones (if curious, see media and publications below).

During this time, I also attended the Army’s Instructor Course where I became adept at explaining complex principles in understandable ways. I then served as Lead Instructor of the Vermont Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School where I taught, advised, and developed students in military leadership and ethical decision making.

During my summers, I worked on the Iraq desk at the US Department of State and was a Yale Scholar at Nature Iraq, a non-government organization in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq. Later, the United Nations recruited me to help develop international laws that protect the environment pre-, during, and post-war. I presented Iraq as a case study and served as the working group’s military advisor.

When that work concluded, I went back on active duty. Shortly thereafter, I became chronically ill. It meant I could never fly for the Army again. If I wanted to continue serving, I had to find a desk job—fortunately, I was already a lawyer. I transitioned to the Army JAG Corps’ new Special Victims Counsel advocating for victims of military sexual assault.

Unfortunately, my health condition progressed to the point where I was no longer a deployable soldier, so I medically retired after 17 years of service. This also meant that my ultimate goal of traveling to war-torn countries for environmental human rights work was inadvisable. Suddenly, I wasn’t in the Army anymore and I wasn’t to become the lawyer I’d imagined I’d be.

Through all of this, I’ve been a lifelong equestrian. I’m a 3rd generation horsewoman who started working in barns at age 11 for $2.50/hour and ring time. Fast forward a decade or two and I brought two horses to college in 2001, another to flight school in 2006, leased horses around going to war in 2009, rescued my draft horse in 2016, and published the national equestrian magazine EQuine AMerica from 2018 to 2021 (now owned by StreamHorseTV).

Being an attorney who has worked in several barns; bought, sold, leased, and rescued horses; and created, developed, and sold an equestrian business; my personal and professional experiences make me particularly aware of the unique legal issues that amateur and professional horse owners—and equine businesses—face daily, so I shifted my focus to providing Equine Legal & Business Services to Hunt Country, Virginia.

Soon, I fell in love with what I call Life, Legacy & Estate Planning—the business of helping you protect yourself and everything that matters to you, during your lifetime and after. I enjoy getting to know my clients as we work together to design a custom, comprehensive legacy plan that provides them peace of mind. To best serve my clients, I’ve traveled throughout the country learning from leaders in the field, overdosed on virtual education, and joined an exclusive network of our nation’s top-tier attorneys who employ WealthCounsel (state-of-the-art legal drafting software) to ensure your plan is current with the law and works the way you want it to.

With my soldier’s sense of duty and trained attention to detail, it’s my objective to provide competent, client-centered care that precisely meets your needs, now and into the future. The pilot in me wants to help you navigate what lies ahead; whether you’re building a barn or a legacy, there are so many moving parts that need to be synchronized, it’s like flying a helicopter—almost.