As a leading academic figure as well as a recognized activist in the field of children's rights throughout Latin America, Mary was delegated with the responsibilities of providing continuing education to judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and NGO members for years; and as a legal consultant on criminal justice and human rights matters to various Latin American governments and international organizations, she has been involved in the process of adopting international children's human rights law at the domestic level through legal and institutional reforms all over the region. Mary is responsible for drafting many of the modern Latin-American legislation on child protection and juvenile justice in several countries. As a young adjunct professor, she taught the first course on juvenile justice and child rights at the University of Buenos Aires where she became the first woman to hold a Chair in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure; and as a legal scholar, she has made significant contributions to the jurisprudence related to the direct application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international instruments in domestic law.