David Bernhard is a lawyer in the state of Virginia in the United States who was elected Circuit Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit (Fairfax County) on February 23, 2017 by the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates, for an 8 year term commencing July 1, 2017. He is reportedly the first immigrant from Latin America to have been elected Circuit Court Judge in Virginia. His election was preceded by a selection process wherein candidates were evaluated by the Fairfax Bar Judicial Selection Committee which issued an Executive Summary on his candidacy, followed by a vote by the Fairfax Bar Association membership. Subsequently, state legislators of the Virginia General Assembly having precincts in Fairfax County, voted as later reported in committee, to unanimously recommend his approval to the full Legislature.
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Education
In 1980, Bernhard received his High school diploma from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. In 1983, he graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. He completed his law degree in 1985 at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. He is fluent in the English, Spanish and German languages.
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Career
Bernhard was first admitted to practice law in Virginia (1988), Maryland (1989), District of Columbia (1987), Missouri (1986). From 1991 to 2017 he was in partnership with attorney Cheryl E. Gardner at the law firm of Bernhard & Gardner. In 2005, Bernhard with Gardner, co-founded and until May 2017 co-moderated VADefenses Listserv, a criminal law resource.
Bernhard's trial practice included the handling of difficult cases such as a murder case which was only the second instance of a jury trial being televised in the history of the Fairfax County Circuit Court, engendering debate as to the circumstances if any under which cameras ought to be allowed in a courtroom. Notable matters he handled include challenging admissibility of certificates of analysis offered without the presence of a technician in DUI prosecutions and confronting problems with enforcement of Northern Virginia toll road civil penalty cases, in each case contributing to the enactment of changes to the Code of Virginia. His appeals include Virginia's first civil Gideon case, a cooperative effort with Clarence M. Dunnaville Jr., culminating in amending legislation; the seminal Benitez decision policing abusive litigation practices; and the Kim opinion, providing a bright line test as to when private property is subject to the traffic laws of Virginia applicable to "statutory highways." Bernhard helped reconstitute, and from 2011 to 2014, was Co-Chair of the Fairfax Bar Criminal Law Practice Section, serving for the last year in collaboration with Michael J. Lindner, for which effort he was recognized with an FBA President's Award. In 2012 he was named a "Leader in the Law" by Virginia Lawyers Weekly.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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