HON. LINDA S. FIDNICK is an Associate Justice with the Hampshire Probate and Family Court. Prior to her appointment to the bench in 2008, Judge Fidnick was a partner in the Amherst law firm of Burres, Fidnick & Booth LLP, where she concentrated her practice in all areas of family law, including mediation and collaborative law. Judge Fidnick is a graduate of Smith College and the University of Connecticut Law School, and she has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar for nearly thirty years. Judge Fidnick is past president of the Massachusetts chapter of AFCC and currently serves on the national board of directors of AFCC. She served on the board and as secretary of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers before her appointment to the bench. Judge Fidnick serves on Chief Justice Carey's Probate Court Rules Committee, Forms Committee and Judicial Education Committee.  She is also past chair of the MBA Family Law Section Council and past president of the Hampshire County Bar Association. Before she became a judge, Ms. Fidnick had been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for over ten years and was named a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer” and one of the top fifty female lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine. Judge Fidnick lectures frequently for MCLE, MBA, and Suffolk Law School continuing legal education programs.  Judge Fidnick was one of the first recipients of the MCLE Scholar-Mentor Award, which is presented to outstanding members of the bench and bar who have demonstrated leadership through long-term service to MCLE, excellence in teaching or writing, and creativity in the suggestion of program and publication ideas. Judge Fidnick is the author of a number of articles on family law, including an article on hidden income which appeared in the American Bar Association’s “Family Advocate”.