Rita attended Roanoke College (Salem Virginia) on a partial swimming scholarship and graduated with a double major in political science and education.  She has a Juris Doctorate from Widener University. 

She began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable John E. Stively, Jr.  She was employed by the County of Chester (PA) as an assistant county solicitor and was a partner in the law firm of Crawford, Wilson, Ryan & Agulnick. After the birth of her second child, she left the private practice of law and became legal counsel for an international corporation, focusing on transactional litigation. She is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 

Rita has extensive experience in higher education.  She was the Director of MBA programs at Eastern University for over fifteen years where she both designed courses and taught graduate and undergraduate business students. She has taught associate-level courses at Esperanza College (North Philadelphia) and graduate courses at Wilmington University (Delaware) as well as at Trinity Western University in Vancouver, Canada. She has also taught international business law in Shanghai China. 

Even though teaching is her second career, she continues to maintain a small boutique private law practice.