"There are very few things in our day-to-day lives now that don't cross national boundaries," she says. "It is rare that anyone will engage in a practice of law that doesn't require us to think globally or have a global interaction. The world is becoming smaller. More law firms are dealing with offices and businesses that go overseas. Legal services agencies are dealing with more clients who are foreign-born."

Paoletti has been very close to this shift throughout her career. Recognized early on for her interest in human rights, she won the Skadden Fellowship and the Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellowship, both of which support legal services for the poor and disadvantaged. She worked as an attorney for Philadelphia-based Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., and is now a member of their board. She then spent three years at American University Washington College of Law as a practitioner-in-residence. Paoletti joined the Penn Law faculty in 2006 as lecturer and clinical supervisor. She shares her expertise in employment, immigration, international and labor law with her students, offering them real-world cases and the chance to make a real-world difference.