FAMILY: My husband and I will have been married 40 years in May. We have three children, who all grew up in Stafford County and attended county schools. Our older daughter, Annemarie, 38, is an attorney in Charlotte, N.C., who specializes in workman's compensation. My son, Christopher, 33, is a research scientist for the Advanced Institute of Research and Technology in Danville. I am fortunate to have my younger daughter, Laura, 31, work with me as my legal assistant and office administrator. My husband and I have two grandchildren, Kira, 7, and Alexander, 3.

EDUCATION: 2001--bachelor's degree from Mary Washington College; 2001-2004--law reader under the Virginia State Bar's Law Reader Program. On Nov. 1, 2004, I was admitted to the Virginia State Bar as counselor and attorney at law.

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? I grew up in the 1950s and '60s in an Italian immigrant family and was raised in a very traditional Sicilian home. During those days, young girls were groomed to be good wives and mothers. College was not encouraged. Like most girls in my neighborhood, I dreamed of a happy marriage and large family. It was after my oldest child was in college that I first desired to be an attorney "when I grew up."

FIRST JOB: Clerk-stenographer, Federal Communications Commission

WORST JOB: None. I learned many things from each job that prepared me for the next one. Assuredly, I enjoyed some aspects of each job more than others, but there has not been one job that I disliked.

CAREER HISTORY: 1971-1973: Legal assistant to the legal adviser to FCC Commissioner Robert Bartley.

1973-1979: Legal assistant to a division chief and an administrative law judge for the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C.

1979-1988: Stay-at-home mom; Cub Scout leader; classroom volunteer, PTO vice president and PTO president, all at Garrisonville Elementary; church volunteer; and Christian education teacher at St. William of York Catholic Church.

1988-2001: Legal assistant to a local attorney.

2001-2004: Law reader under the Virginia State Bar Law Reader Program.

2004-2006: Partner of the law firm of Jacoby & Pantazis.