[8] Prior to joining the United States Department of State, she was a San Diego deputy city attorney, an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California, an Associate Dean of Boston University School of Law, and senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's Organized Crime Strike Force.

[8] Following her State Department service, she served as vice president and managing director of Save the Children.

[12][13][11] She is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a resident of the District of Columbia.

[2] In 2008, Ely-Raphel was described as the "companion of 12 years" of the late diplomat and spy novelist Samuel J. Hamrick, in his obituary.

[16] She has at least one child, Robert Duff Ely, an insurance defense lawyer in New York.