Ms. Harwell has worked in prevention and response to sexual assault for more than thirty-five years, filling a variety of professional roles, including as a victim advocate/prevention expert on the staff of rape crisis centers in four states. As a practicing attorney in New Mexico, she provides legal advice and consultation for sexual assault response centers statewide and she managed a specialized not-for-profit general legal practice exclusively serving sexual assault survivors and rape crisis centers. Through a separate consulting business, she is a national trainer and curriculum developer for police, prosecutors, medical providers, civil attorneys, judges, victim advocates, university staff, college students, and counselors.  One client, the United States Air Force, utilizes her training curricula in best practices in response to sexual assault at their installations worldwide.  She regularly consults with military prosecutors and local district attorneys on open criminal cases. Her work also includes advising colleges and universities on violence prevention and disciplinary board training. As the Victim Rights Law Center’s national trainer, she mentored a nationwide cadre of civil attorneys on effective representation of sexual assault survivors.  Also the former Division Director for the New Mexico Attorney General’s Violence Against Women Office, and a former local prosecutor, she spent more than a decade prosecuting a variety of high profile violent offenses that have been featured on “Arrest and Trial”, “Final Justice”, “20/20” and international news media.  Ms. Harwell received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law. Before attending law school, she was a state-certified law enforcement officer attaining the rank of Corporal (a training officer) in the state of North Carolina.