She worked as an Attorney Advisor for the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 1977 to 1979.

She worked as a staff attorney for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs from 1979 to 1991.

[5] From 1991 to 2013, she served as a judge on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, presiding over both civil and criminal matters.

[6] Her nomination to that court in 1990 by Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey was controversial with local Democratic and Hispanic leaders because she was a political novice whose earlier employment by the federal government had barred her from participating in party politics.

[7] Her nomination languished in the Pennsylvania Senate for over a year and she was only confirmed once that she had won election to the court.