Kristen began her career as a staff attorney at the Metropolitan Public Defender in Portland, Oregon, where she represented adults in the criminal system, children in the juvenile delinquency system, and parents and children in the child welfare system. She then served as a public defender at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., where she represented clients serving extreme sentences for offenses that occurred when they were children or young adults. Kristen is a graduate of Davidson College and Yale Law School.