Ms. Stillinger began her career as a law clerk to the Honorable Philip T. Cole, United States Magistrate Judge, Western District of Texas, El Paso Division, from August 1987 to September 1988. She was an associate at Caballero, Panetta and Ortega from September 1988 to February 1994 where she practiced primarily in federal courts. Ms. Stillinger has since spent the past twenty-three years as a solo practitioner in which she has tried over seventy felony trials, has written briefs for over fifty federal appeals in addition to handling thousands of federal felony cases and state felony and misdemeanor cases.