Judge Cetrulo was appointed to the Court of Appeals in September of 2021 and elected in November of 2022 to serve the 6th Appellate District, Second Division, which is composed of the Commonwealth’s 13 northernmost counties.

Her career has brought her full circle, as her first legal job was as a staff attorney for the Court of Appeals from 1984 to 1991, first for Judge Charles Lester and then Judge Judy M. West. Judge Cetrulo went on to spend 30 years in private practice and came to the Court of Appeals from the civil litigation firm of Cetrulo, Mowery & Hicks, which she founded along with her husband in 2000. Prior to establishing her own firm, Judge Cetrulo practiced with Kohnen Patton & Hunt in Cincinnati and with Ware Bryson West & Kummer in Edgewood.

In addition to practicing civil litigation in Kentucky and Ohio, she was an adoption attorney in both states for over 30 years. She has finalized placements for more than 350 children, and she and her husband are adoptive parents.

Judge Cetrulo has been named one of the most prolific trial attorneys in Kentucky several times by the “Kentucky Jury Verdict Reporter.” She has presented on appellate advocacy and mediation skills and is a certified mediator.

Judge Cetrulo is a co-founder of Cameron’s Cause, a non-profit organization that places automated external defibrillator devices in Northern Kentucky schools and businesses to prevent sudden cardiac death. She has served as a board member and volunteer with the Northern Kentucky Bar Association’s women lawyers and mentoring programs, Josh Cares, KAREFarm, the Citizen Foster Care Review Board, Court Appointed Special Advocates, the Diocesan Children’s Home, Dixie Heights High School band, the Women’s Crisis Center, IMPACT 100, and Immanuel United Methodist Church in Lakeside Park, Kentucky. In 2021, she was recognized by the Northern Kentucky Bar Association as the “Distinguished Lawyer of the Year.”

She earned a Juris Doctor from Northern Kentucky Salmon P. Chase College of Law and a Bachelor’s degree from Morehead State University. Judge Cetrulo and her husband, Bob, are the parents of a daughter and two sons and have three grandchildren.