- Prior to joining the bench, Judge Strickland was a leading civil rights lawyer and criminal defense lawyer in New Mexico.
- In 2016, Judge Strickland was elected president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
- From 2011 to 2021, Judge Strickland was a founding partner at McGraw & Strickland, an all-female law firm where she focused on civil rights work and representing victims of police brutality and sexual assault.
- From 2006 to 2011, Judge Strickland was a trial attorney for the New Mexico Public Defender.
- In 2017, Judge Strickland won a $1.6 million verdict against the Las Cruces Police Department for excessive force, battery and unlawful arrest after a woman was severely injured at the hands of a police officer who, responding to a dispute over a barking dog, slammed her face into rocks and banged her head against a car door. A jury found the officers violated the Fourth Amendment and committed battery.
Confirmed