Special Counsel

Criminal Defense

Pedro Bernal is Special Counsel with RJS LAW.  Since 2016, Mr. Bernal has represented clients charged with state and federal crimes all over Southern California.  Prior to forming Bernal Law, APLC, Mr. Bernal served as a prosecutor for nearly a decade, first serving as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General of Washington, and later as a Deputy District Attorney in the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.  Mr. Bernal also served as a Special United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

Over the last 15 years, Mr. Bernal has prosecuted and defended thousands of cases in the areas of insurance fraud, mortgage fraud, health care fraud, international drug trafficking, gun charges, child abuse, domestic violence, burglary, money laundering, and murder.  Mr. Bernal has also argued numerous cases in the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Bernal is a native of San Diego and fluent in Spanish. Pedro Bernal is able to seamlessly serve his clients in both English and Spanish and has a proven track record of obtaining extraordinary results for his client in both state and federal court.  Since 2016, Mr. Bernal has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at California Western School of Law, teaching in the areas of Legal Writing and Criminal Procedure.

Mr. Bernal completed his undergraduate degree in 2004 at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.  He then attended The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois, receiving his Juris Doctor degree in 2007.

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