Sheindlin passed the New York state bar examination in 1965, the same year as her graduation, and was hired as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm. Within two years she became dissatisfied with her job and left to raise her two children. She was made aware of a position in the New York court system as a prosecutor in the family courts in 1972. In her role as a lawyer, Sheindlin prosecuted child abuse cases, domestic violence and juvenile crime.