Ms. Keidel was born on April 29, 1953 in Flushing, New York. She moved to California as a very young child. Ms. Keidel is a 1975 graduate of San Diego State University. After working for the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Social Services for a number of years, Ms. Keidel decided to start a second career and went back to school to get her JD degree. She graduated from Southwestern University School of Law in May 1984 and passed the California State Bar in December 1984.

Since passing the bar, Ms. Keidel worked for firms in the greater Los Angeles area. When California State Automobile Association (the Northern California branch of AAA) opened a house counsel firm in Glendale, Ms. Keidel was asked to join that office. She stayed with the firm in the Glendale office until it was dissolved. When asked to join the home office in San Francisco, Ms. Keidel declined due to family commitments. Thereafter she joined a small firm in Arcadia and was named as a partner in the firm after a few years. Ms. Keidel joined Hosp, Gilbert, Bergsten & Hough in 2007.

Her extensive years of practice have almost exclusively been devoted to insurance defense. She has tried both limited and general jurisdiction cases. In her leisure time, Ms. Keidel is devoted to her grown children, both of whom are currently in college, and her husband who is an architect.