Mother of global nomads; grandmother; dog lover; peripatetic lawyer; annotator of whatever strikes my fancy, including foreign service life, rule of law, culture, travel, and the imponderables.
I am a U.S. attorney who most of the time has worked on international legal and judicial reform projects.
Highlights of a past life cover directing training programs on judicial independence, including the initial post-2003 training for Iraqi judges; building justice sector management capacity in Afghanistan; promoting commercial law development in Central Europe and Eurasia; and co-authoring legislation including banking legislation adopted by the post-communist Albanian government.
Of interest, maybe? During the perestroika era of the USSR, my claim to fame was that I was the first resident practicing American lawyer in Moscow, where I counseled businesses on trade and investment opportunities there.
My proudest achievement, other than my children? Earning -in Italian!- a Masters in European Union Studies at the Istituto degli Studi Europei Alcide de Gasperi, in Rome, Italy. Fortunately, I was allowed to write my thesis in English.
The most memorable work I have done? Working at USAID assisting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, led at the time by Bishop Desmond Tutu, to record the proceedings that would promote reconciliation and forgiveness among perpetrators and victims of apartheid between March 1960 and May 1994. The final report was presented to President Nelson Mandela on October 29, 1998, and I was humbled to have been invited to the sobering yet magnificent ceremony.
Where I have lived, worked and studied and have left a piece of my heart? Argentina, Japan, the United States, Mexico, the USSR, Italy, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Poland, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Afghanistan.
And today? Having raised four third culture kids or global nomads, nowadays you will find me living in the most beautiful Blue Hill Peninsula in Maine, doing what I most love to do: research and write.
Dum Spiro Spero 