She attended Hertford College, Oxford and graduated with a first-class BA in jurisprudence in 1981.

[2][1] In 1985, Rowena Collins joined the Civil Service; first in the Home Office from 1985 to 1991, then in the Treasury Solicitor's Department from 1992 to 1995.

In 1995, she entered the Government Legal Service's trainee scheme and was admitted as a solicitor in that year.

In 2007, she was appointed legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice, and was promoted to the Ministry's executive board as director general (democracy, constitution and law) and appointed chief legal officer.

In 2017, Collins Rice was appointed a deputy High Court judge.