Ms. Maidens attended Vassar College, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree, and Columbia University, where she received an M.A. in International Affairs and a Certificate from the Russian Institute (now the Harriman Institute). After a career in news editing for Facts on File, a nationally distributed news digest, she entered law school, receiving her Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark. Ms. Maidens is a member of the Editorial Board of the New Jersey Law Journal and has had numerous articles published in that newspaper, as well as being a regular contributor of editorials, for which she was awarded the Alfred C. Clapp Award for excellence in editorial writing.