Laura Pierro

Laura Pierro earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Linguistics and Spanish from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a Juris Doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law. She began her legal career as a law clerk to three criminal judges of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Monmouth Vicinage and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Thereafter, she was hired by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in Toms River, New Jersey, where she spent the next 20 years serving in various roles from Assistant Prosecutor in the Grand Jury, Juvenile and Trial Sections, to Director of the Special Victims’ Unit, Trial Team Leader, Chief of the Trial Section and ultimately the Deputy Executive Prosecutor in charge of all litigation. Mrs. Pierro successfully litigated several high-profile cases including the prosecution of a prominent religious figure for child sexual abuse that garnered national and international attention and a paroled sex offender for whom a life sentence was sought for the first time in a non-homicide case in the county’s history. She also recorded multiple convictions on several other homicide, violent crimes, and public corruption cases. Laura Pierro was born in Buffalo, New York and returned to her home state upon her appointment to the bench as a United States Immigration Judge. After serving in Manhattan, she then transferred to one of the Immigration Courts in New Jersey before electing to leave the bench to become the Executive Director of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. Mrs. Pierro has been recognized throughout her career for her achievements as a member of both the bench and Bar and has been the recipient of awards honoring her commitment to victims in the criminal justice system.