She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida in 1977, and her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1980.

[1] Fischer was in private practice in California for 17 years, from 1980 to 1997, during which she also volunteer briefly for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

[1][2] She practiced as a business litigator at the law firms Heller Ehrman and Kindel & Anderson.

[3][4] Fischer was a judge on the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1997 to 2000, hearing criminal cases.

[5] In 2023 the criminal securities fraud case of Terren Peizer, the CEO and chairman of publicly traded healthcare company Ontrak, was assigned to Fischer.