A 1990 graduate of Stanford Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review, she served as a law clerk to Judge Filemon B. Vela, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas prior to being awarded a Skadden Fellowship to work in the Colonias Project of Texas Rural Legal Aid in 1992. In 1995, Frances founded the Community Development Clinic of St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio, teaching and supervising students in transactional cases for non-profit clients in South Texas. In 2001, Frances moved to Austin to work for McAuley Institute providing technical assistance and loan assistance to community development corporations in the Texas-Region and helping to design a Women’s Leadership Institute. She came to Texas C-BAR in 2004.