Judge Fitzsimmons was appointed United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Connecticut on June 4, 1993. She is a 1971, magna cum laude, graduate of Smith College, where she majored in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1976, she received her Juris Doctor and a Master of Arts in Legal History from the University of Virginia. Before becoming a lawyer, she was a newspaper reporter.
Judge Fitzsimmons joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut in 1978 after two years at the firm of Robinson & Cole in Hartford. At the United States Attorney’s Office, she was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division (1978-82), Lead Attorney for the New England Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in Connecticut (1982-86), Assistant-in-Charge of the Bridgeport Office (1986-89), and Chief of Special Prosecutions and Senior Litigation Counsel (1989-93).
Judge Fitzsimmons has taught trial practice at Yale Law school since 1992. She is a member of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association and the Raymond Baldwin Inn of Court, and was a founding member of the Hartford Association of Women Attorneys.