Born into a Jewish family, Cedarbaum grew up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.

She served as first assistant counsel of the New York State Moreland Commission on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law from 1963 to 1964.

She was in private practice with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City from 1979 to 1986.

[4][3] Cedarbaum oversaw the case against the would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday, October 5, 2010.

[6] Cedarbaum was married on August 25, 1957[7] to the late Bernard Cedarbaum, long-time partner at Carter Ledyard & Milburn,[8] and has two children, Daniel, a lawyer and leader of Reconstructionist Judaism in Chicago,[9] and Jonathan, a lawyer in D.C. who clerked for the now-retired Associate Justice David Souter of the Supreme Court.