As part of her undergraduate education she attended L'Universite Catholique (see Catholic University of the West) located in Angers, France for one academic year.

She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 and later from Notre Dame Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1976.

Fischer returned to Pittsburgh in 1977 where she became the first female associate at Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck, an insurance defense litigation firm.

In October 2010, Fischer sentenced a man from New Castle, Pennsylvania, to 30 years in prison for transporting and receiving child pornography.

[3] In 2012 and 2013, she upheld a verdict and damages award of $1.17 billion in a patent infringement suit against Marvell Technology Group.