Warren was a star member of the debate team in Northeast Classen High School. She won the state debating championship in high school, and also won a debate scholarship to George Washington University. She left after two years to marry Jim Warren. She enrolled at the University of Houston, and she graduated in 1970 with a BS degree in speech pathology and audiology. After that, she taught children with disabilities in a public school.
After moving to New Jersey, she became pregnant, and when her daughter turned two, she enrolled at Rutgers Law School in Newark. After she passed the bar exam, she performed legal services from home. She wrote wills and did real estate closings.