United States Magistrate Judge JEREMY D. PETERSON (jdp)

Federal Judicial Service:

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California

United States Magistrate Judge, appointed April 27, 2018

Education:

Harvard Law School, J.D., 2006 cum laude
Swarthmore College, B.A., 1999 with honors

Professional Career:

2012-2018
Arnold & Porter LLP, Washington, D.C.
 
2010-2011
U.S. Department of Justice, Deepwater Horizon Task Force, New Orleans, Louisiana
 
2011-2012, 2008-2010
U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Washington, D.C. 
 
2007-2008
U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Washington, D.C., Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section
 
2006-2007
Law Clerk to Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Santa Barbara, California


Biography:

Jeremy D. Peterson was appointed a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of California on April 27, 2018. His chambers are in Sacramento, California, where he presides over a variety of civil and criminal matters. Prior to October 1, 2020, he sat in the U.S. District Court in Yosemite Valley.
 
Judge Peterson conducts settlement conferences in all types of cases, including both cases assigned to him and those assigned to other judges of this district. He teaches Federal Court Mediation at UC Davis School of Law and participates in McGeorge School of Law's Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic.
 
Judge Peterson has served as both a federal prosecutor and as a private defense attorney. His career as a litigator began with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., where he prosecuted domestic violence offenses. He later joined the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, on whose behalf he appeared in federal trial and appellate courts nationwide. After the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, Judge Peterson joined a team of prosecutors and federal agents investigating the incident. This investigation ultimately led to corporate guilty pleas and the imposition of billions of dollars in criminal fines and penalties, much of which was dedicated to restoring Gulf Coast ecosystems. Judge Peterson co-authored DOJ’s “Blue Book” on criminal discovery and USDOJ's manual for prosecuting bankrupt entities.
 
When he was appointed to the bench, Judge Peterson was in private practice with Arnold & Porter, LLP, in Washington, D.C., representing clients in a variety of civil and criminal matters. He managed litigation involving technical and scientific evidence and helped clients negotiate resolutions with both private companies and federal and state regulators. His clients included manufacturers, auto companies, a railroad, and private individuals. Judge Peterson served as co-chair of a conference on trial strategy and as vice chair of an American Bar Association committee that reviewed federal and state enforcement actions.
 
Judge Peterson received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal, and his B.A., with honors, from Swarthmore College. After law school, he served as a law clerk for Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.