Judging Amy’s Mom To Keynote Luncheon

DANBURY — Judge Frederica Brenneman will be the special guest speaker at the Domestic Violence Awareness Month Luncheon sponsored by the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury. Judge Brenneman’s daughter, Amy Brenneman, creates, produces, and stars in the hit TV drama “Judging Amy,” which is partly based on Judge Brenneman’s career.

Tickets for the Saturday, October 13, event at the Ridgewood Country Club can be reserved by calling the Center at 203-731-5200 or Chairperson Kathleen Pape at 746-1491. Tickets should be purchased by October 3 since space is limited.

A Radcliffe graduate, Judge Brenneman was in the first class to admit women to the Harvard Law School.

In 1967 the US Supreme Court ruled that juveniles were entitled to constitutional due process. In the wake of this decision, Brenneman was appointed to the state juvenile court, only the second woman on the bench in Connecticut history. She became a judge in Superior Court when the state trial courts merged in 1978.

In her long career Brenneman has specialized in abuse and neglect cases, pushed for stronger legal protection for children, shaped statewide protocols and case law, trained innumerable judges and educated caseworkers, attorneys, parents, and the public on court procedures.

Judge Brenneman is currently semi-retired, serving on an on-call basis, and still preferring to sit in juvenile court. She also shares her courtroom knowledge as a consultant to “Judging Amy.”