Teresa Wagner graduated with distinction from The University of Iowa College of Law in 1993 after completing her first year of law school at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She practiced as a trial attorney for two years then began work in law and public policy, authoring numerous publications and serving as lead counsel for amicus briefs to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and to the United States Supreme Court. She has taught a graduate-level class on the law and medical ethics as well as Legal Research, Writing and Analysis I and II at George Mason University Law School. She is the editor of three published books, two of which were collections of essays involving more than 40 contributing authors.
She has been an Associate Director of the Writing Resource Center since 2007.