Judge Hepner was appointed to the Family Court of the State of New York in August 1990 by Mayor David N. Dinkins, was reappointed in December 2000 by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and reappointed in December 2009 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In February 2008 she was designated the Supervising Judge for the Kings and Richmond County Family Courts.

Prior to her appointment to the Family Court, Judge Hepner was the supervising attorney in New York City's Human Resources Administration prosecuting cases of child abuse and neglect in the Manhattan Family Court where she worked from 1985-1990. A 1977 graduate of Hofstra University Law School, Judge Hepner served as a Consulting Attorney to the Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York, Inc. from 1984-1986; as Director of the Education Rights Project of the Public Education Association from 1983-1985; as Director of the Handicapped Children's Rights Project at Advocates for Children of New York, Inc. from 1979-1983; and as a staff attorney for the Protection and Advocacy System for Developmental Disabilities, Inc. from 1975-1979.

Judge Hepner is a member of the Associations of Family Court Judges of the State and City of New York, the National Association of Women Judges [“NAWJ”], the Association of the Bar of the City of New York [“ABCNY”] and the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges [“IALJG”]. Judge Hepner holds a Juris Doctor degree from Hofstra University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Information about Judge Hepner is also available on the Judicial Directory.