Africa. Eastern Europe. Asia. The Caribbean. For the past three years Amy Horton has been working as the Associate General Counsel for the Peace Corps. "What attracted me to the Peace Corps was the opportunity to have a client that was doing good in the world. I believe in the Peace Corps' mission and this job has been a wonderful opportunity to have a client who I sincerely care about." Amy also likes that her work requires her to be a general practitioner who deals with a broad assortment of legal issues. She provides legal opinions and policy advice to headquarters management relating to all aspects of running a small federal agency, and works with attorneys and prosecutors abroad on civil and criminal matters in areas such as labor law, contracts, lease disputes, and assault."

As an undergraduate student, Amy had extended stays abroad in Argentina and Spain. So it comes as no surprise that one of Amy's favorite parts of the job is the international aspect. "When I visit a country that is hosting a Peace Corps' mission I often have meetings with high level government officials, such as the Minister of Education or the Minister of Justice, but I also visit our volunteers, who are usually stationed in remote, undeveloped areas. This unique opportunity to get to experience the two extremes of a country is something that I have really enjoyed about my job."

Originally from Winter Park, Florida, Amy earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Stetson University. She was accepted to a Ph.D. program in psychology at the University of Florida, but decided to postpone her education. "Although I enjoyed academics, I decided to take a break between degrees and see where life would take me."

Life took her back to Spain, where she worked as an English teacher and bilingual secretary in Madrid for two years. While in Spain, Amy picked-up photography as a hobby and when she returned stateside from her sojourn abroad, she headed to New York where photography became her profession. For eight years she worked as a photo editor, doing work for several of the major weekly magazine publications.

Although she enjoyed the excitement of working with photographers in New York City, returning to school was an idea that she always harbored in the back of her mind. When I decided to go back to school, psychology was the frontrunner." However, as an avid reader, Amy's interest gradually shifted from psychology to law.

In 1989, Amy was admitted to the University of Miami School of Law and offered a full scholarship. Amy admits to being nervous about returning to school after a twelve-year absence, but she believes that her experiences over those years made the pressures of law school easier to manage. "I was clear why I was there and what I wanted to get out of the experience. And quite frankly, although it was difficult, going to law school was an enjoyable experience for me."

Excellent grades and her experience as an Editor for the UM Law Review helped Amy secure a coveted clerkship with the Federal Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. As the last court of appeals before the Supreme Court, this clerkship afforded Amy an inside look at the functioning of the judiciary. "It was exhilarating. This is as close as I'll ever be to the making of law." As a clerk, she worked closely with her judge in drafting opinions, and the intensive research required of her appealed to Amy's academic nature.

Upon completion of the clerkship Amy accepted a position as an Attorney at Shea & Gardner, a medium-sized litigation firm in Washington. Amy worked with some talented lawyers at Shea & Gardner and the job was a good training ground for law practice. Amy spent five years with Shea & Gardner before moving on to her current position with the Peace Corps.

Amy took some unique approaches to the study of law, which, based upon her success, aspiring law students might want to consider. "Contrary to many law students' inclination to specialize, I wasn't interested in using my second and third years to concentrate on just one area of the law, instead I wanted to develop a broad, general knowledge of the law."

UM Law offers over 160 classes during the academic year, and trying to decide which classes to take is a dilemma many students face. When Amy reviewed the course offerings, who was teaching was often more important than the subject area. "I was extremely impressed with the faculty and my selection of classes was often based primarily on who was teaching the class. "

Amy's approach has paid off. Her Peace Corps' cases provide endless combinations of legal areas and legal systems, her work has important humanitarian and diplomatic elements to it that give Amy a lot of satisfaction, and she is seeing parts of the world that most of us will never see.