PLD Member Spotlight: Let’s Meet Vera Caldas Wilkinson

Name:
Vera Caldas Wilkinson

Location:
Annandale, Virginia

Email:
veracaldas.wilkinson@gmail.com

What I do:
I work as an interpreter and study American law.

I’m most proud of:
Being a pioneer in the teaching of American Law in English to Brazilian lawyers, judges, and other professionals in the legal arena, including translators. After founding the Caldas Law Studies Center, a school of continuing legal education, I taught courses on the American Legal System, Contracts, Corporations, and other legal topics, emphasizing the differences between common law and civil law systems.

My background:
I was born in São Paulo, Brazil. There I completed a B.A. in Languages (English and Portuguese), studied Spanish, and received an M.A. in Applied Linguistics. Before becoming a lawyer, I taught English for many years at the União Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos and other places. In 2006 I married an American lawyer and moved to the U.S., where I completed a Masters of Comparative Law (M.C.L.) degree and an LL.M. I have lived in Alabama, Alaska, and Virginia, and have now settled in the D.C. area.

Why do I belong to the PLD?
To exchange knowledge and to give and receive support in the professional field.

Major challenge(s) in my career:
Starting and managing my own business.

What I’m reading now:
A Chave de Salomão by José Rodrigues dos Santos, a thrilling story which transports its hero from Portugal to Washington, D.C. Although it’s fiction, it uses genuine scientific information about the mind, the body, and the enigma of existence. Also “Thomas Jefferson ― an Intimate History” by Fawn Brodie, which goes beyond Jefferson’s political and revolutionary life to reveal his human side, ambivalences and passions.