Andrea was born and raised in the Queen's section of New York City where she accrued a juvenile record for breaking and entering. Having been given a second chance, she went to college and received her law degree from Queen's College. She was a partner in the small law firm of Smith and Guitterez where she specialized in representing prisoners with grievances against the state pertaining to their treatment while incarcerated. King was her seventh client and she had lost all her other cases before his.