<P> Néstor established a law firm that Cristina joined in 1979 . The firm worked for banks and financial groups that filed eviction lawsuits, which had a growing rate at the time because the 1050 ruling of the Central Bank had increased the interest rates for mortgage loans . The Kirchners acquired twenty - one land lots at cheap prices as they were about to be auctioned . Their law firm defended military personnel accused of committing crimes during the Dirty War . Forced disappearances were common at the time, but unlike other lawyers the Kirchners never signed a habeas corpus . Julio César Strassera, prosecutor in the 1985 Trial of the Juntas against the military, critizised the Kirchners' lack of legal actions against the military, and considered their later interest in the issue a form of hipocrisy . </P> <P> Cristina Kirchner was elected deputy for the provincial legislature of Santa Cruz in 1989 . The Justicialist Party (PJ), led by Carlos Menem, returned to the presidency in the 1989 general elections . She served as interim governor of Santa Cruz for a couple of days, after the impeachment of Ricardo del Val in 1990 . She organized Néstor's political campaign when he was elected governor of Santa Cruz in 1991 . In 1994, she was elected to the constituent assembly that amended the Constitution of Argentina . </P> <P> She was elected national senator in the 1995 general elections . She opposed most bills proposed by Menem, such as a treaty with Chilean president Patricio Aylwin that benefited Chile in a dispute over the Argentina--Chile border . The Minister of Defense Oscar Camilión was questioned in Congress about the Argentine arms trafficking scandal; Kirchner told him that he had to resign, which he refused to do . As a result, she made a name for herself as a troublemaker . She was removed from the PJ bloc in the Congress in 1997 for misconduct . She resigned her senatorial seat that year and ran for national deputy in the 1997 midterm elections instead . Menem ended his term of office in 1999 and was replaced by Fernando de la Rúa . Kirchner took part in a commission to investigate money laundering with fellow legislator Elisa Carrió, and got into conflicts with her . She ran again for senator in the 2001 midterm elections . </P> <P> Néstor Kirchner was elected president in 2003, and Cristina became the First Lady . Under these circumstances, she sought a lower profile in Congress . Néstor Kirchner had a political dispute with the previous president, Eduardo Duhalde . Their dispute continued during the 2005 midterm elections . Without consensus in the PJ for a single candidate for senator of the Buenos Aires province, both leaders had their respective wives run for the office: Hilda González de Duhalde for the PJ, and Cristina Kirchner for the Front for Victory . Cristina Kirchner won the election . </P>

Daughter of a former justice minister in argentina