practices in the areas of nursing home defense, pharmacy defense and insurance defense. Ms. Varslavane-Callahan is a native of Latvia, a small country in Northern Europe. She received her undergraduate degree in the English language and literature from University of Latvia one year after Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

While in college, Ms. Varslavane-Callahan competed on the varsity team and was a Latvian champion in track and field. For three years after graduation, Ms. Varslavane-Callahan worked as a translator and interpreter serving such clients as American Bar Association, the Latvian Government, Council of Europe, United Nations Development Program, NATO and foreign embassies in Riga, Latvia.

She developed an interest in international relations and law that led her to Florida State University. Ms. Varslavane-Callahan received a master’s degree in International Relations and a law degree from Florida State University. For approximately two years after graduation, Ms. Varslavane-Callahan worked in Tallahassee, Florida, as a program attorney at Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Air/Waste section, dealing with petroleum storage systems.

After relocating to St. Petersburg, Ms. Varslavane-Callahan worked as an attorney in Tampa, at a boutique commercial litigation law firm. She joined the law firm of Callahan Martinez, L.L.C. in December 2002. Ms. Varslavane-Callahan is fluent in Russian and Latvian and has an intermediate level fluency in French and German.