 After earning her PhD in Anthropology in 1994, McFate went on to study law at Harvard Law School, earning a Juris Doctor in 1997.While in graduate school, she married a US Army officer, Sean Sapone (the two would later adopt the maiden surname of his mother, Mary McFate).After earning her JD, she spent the next several years, variously, as an associate in a San Francisco law firm, working for human rights organizations, and as a travel writer.