Alumna Archana Rao ’01 has been appointed judge by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and has been assigned to Criminal Court.
She has spent her entire career so far with the New York County District Attorney’s Office working in several bureaus during her 17 year tenure there, is a new appointee, according to a press release from the Mayor’s office Jan. 31. She last served as Bureau Chief of the Financial Frauds Bureau. She joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2001. She was assigned to the trial division, where, in addition to prosecuting street crime cases, she served in the Domestic Violence Unit and the Welfare Fraud Unit, according to a bio on the Asian Women in Business which had her on its list of “Asian Women Prosecutors and the Pursuit of Justice: in 2013. In 2004, she was assigned to the Special Prosecutions Bureau where she handled a variety of investigations and prosecutions, including frauds involving mortgages, housing and securities as well as computer crimes. She eventually rose to become Bureau Chief. Judge Rao is a graduate of Vassar College and Fordham University School of Law.