Ioana Petrou, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District, was formally sworn in as an Alameda County judge last night at the Claremont Country Club in Oakland.
There was no shortage of people wanting to say nice things about the newly minted judge. Attendees included Northern District Judge Marilyn Patel, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, former U.S. Attorney Joe Russoniello, and Berkeley criminal defense attorney Cris Arguedas.
Arguedas told the story of meeting Petrou for the first time to discuss the government’s case health care fraud case against her client. She said she was blown away after hearing Petrou converse fluently and openly about it, drawing from fields like pharmacology and economics. “I went back to the office and assigned two more lawyers to the case,” Arguedas said.
Alex Tse, a former AUSA now with the San Francisco city attorney's office (who worked alongside Petrou on the off-label drug marketing case of InterMune CEO Scott Harkonen), advised lawyers who appear in front of Judge Petrou to be prepared. “You have to be on your toes,” he said. “She’s not going to stand by and she’s not going to wait for you, either.”
A couple of the speakers also gave the tip that Petrou loves good food – so if you ever have lunch with her, let her pick the place.
For her part, Petrou, whom Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed to the bench in October, thanked everyone for showing up. She also said she was grateful to her new colleagues: “All of my fellow judges have welcomed me warmly and with open arms.”
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