She obtained her Bachelor of Laws from The Queen’s University of Belfast, UK in 1991. She pursued her postgraduate studies at the same university and graduated with a Masters of Laws in 1992.

In 1993, she was called to the Bar of England and Wales and is a member of Gray’s Inn, UK since 1993. Subsequently, she was called to the Singapore Bar in 1995 and also to the Malaysian Bar in 2001.

She has over 25 years of experience in the legal profession. She began her career as a pupil Barrister in the Chambers of 4 Brick Court, London, a barrister’s chambers in 1993 until 1994. She then moved to Singapore and continued her legal practice with Palakrishnan and Partners, Singapore, a law firm, as an Associate from 1994 to 1996, where she practised civil and criminal litigation. In 1996, she joined Helen Yeo & Partners (now known as Dentons Rodyk), a law firm, as an Associate and was based at their Vietnam office until 1999 where she advised on laws relating to foreign investors in Vietnam.

In 2000, she returned to Malaysia and joined Raslan Loong, a law firm as an Associate where she began focusing in the areas of corporate and commercial law before leaving in 2003 to join Mazlan & Associates, a law firm. She was made a partner at Mazlan & Associates in 2006 and continued practicing at the legal firm until 2014. In 2015, she co-founded Ilham Lee, a law firm and remains a Partner of the firm.