For a number of years, she served as Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Georgetown University Law Center.
In the administration of President Gerald Ford, Hope served as associate director of the White House Domestic Council.
Hope was a partner and senior advisor at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky, and Walker, for 24 years, serving as the first woman on that firm's (then) four-person governing Executive Committee.
She has served in governing roles and as Chair of the Audit Committee of a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Union Pacific, General Mills and Russell Reynolds Associates.
In April 1988, President Reagan nominated Hope to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and, more specifically, to the seat vacated by Robert Bork and later filled by Clarence Thomas.