Ms. Le’i was admitted to the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., in August 2000 and was graduated in May 2003. From May 2002 to the present Ms. Le’i has served in OIA as a policy analyst with special concentration in American Samoa issues. Prior to coming to the Department of the Interior, Ms. Le’i clerked for the Consumer Litigation Division at the American Association of Retired Persons Foundation in Washington, D.C., during summer 2001.

While in law school, Ms. Le’i was a staff member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association Journal, a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board, a Director and Student Mediator of the Consumer Mediation Clinic, a regional winner of the American Bar Association Representation in Mediation competition and participated in Moot Court.

Having received an American Samoa Government scholarship, Ms. Le’i matriculated at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and was graduated summa cum laude. Through the Ameri-corps Program, she worked for the Legal Aid Society of Hawai’i during her last year in college and continued this work full-time for a year following her graduation. Ms. Le’i also worked as a court reporter for Samoa News and interned for Congressman Faleomavaega’s office in Washington, D.C. before pursuing her law degree.

Ms. Le’i is the first Pacific Islander and the second person from the insular areas to serve in the Interior Office of the Solicitor. "We are counting on Candace to resolve all of the insular areas’ legal issues in her first year," joked OIA Director Nikolao Pula. "We at OIA know that she will thrive in the Solicitor’s Office, and she will be missed in our hallway. We expect great things from Candace."