Northfleet was also a Fulbright Scholar and assisted in the development of the United States Law Library of Congress Global legal information network project.

[citation needed] Her public career began in 1971, clerking for the Rio Grande do Sul State General Counsel.

[citation needed] Northfleet was appointed to the Supreme Federal Court on 23 November 2000, by then president of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

[citation needed] In May 2006, she came very close to becoming the first acting female president, when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was travelling abroad.

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