Born and raised in Boston, Justice Hershfang graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English, Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University, received a Master of Arts in English from the University of Chicago, and went on to earn her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. At Yale, she was a Senior Editor of the Law Journal and Development Editor of the Journal of Law & the Humanities.
After graduation from law school, Justice Hershfang began her career as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Reginald C. Lindsay at the United States District Court. From there she went on to become a litigation associate with Ropes & Gray. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney and was Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Most recently, Justice Hershfang served as Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in the Enforcement Division, representing the Commission in federal court and the Division before administrative law judges.
Justice Hershfang has served on numerous committees including the Boston Bar Association Bar Council where she was a member of its Executive Committee, Criminal Law Section, and Covid Task Force. She has volunteered annually with the BBA's Law Day in the Schools Program and with the M. Ellen Carpenter Financial Literacy Program, which teaches local high school students about the basics of budgeting, using credit, and saving. Justice Hershfang has also guest-taught business ethics at the UMass Isenberg School of Management.
Justice Hershfang was appointed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court by Governor Charles Baker in 2021.