Admissions

Mr Bernard is admitted to practice before the following courts of the Maryland Judiciary: The Court of Appeals, the Court of Special Appeals, the Circuit Courts, the District Court of Maryland and the Orphans' Courts. Mr. Bernard is also admitted to practice before the Maryland Tax Court, a court of the Maryland Executive which hears appeals on tax issues from the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation and the Comptroller of Maryland.

Mr. Bernard is a trained Settlement Conference Facilitator and volunteered to assist the Howard County District Court resolve civil cases in it's Alternative Dispute Resolutionprogram; he often performed the same function at the request of the Howard County Circuit Court.

At the federal level, Mr. Bernard is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and the United States Tax Court, and represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Bernard received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Quantitative Emphasis, from the University of Minnesota, a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Indiana University – Bloomington and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington.

Mr. Bernard is a past member of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the American Bar Association, the Estates and Trust Law and the Elder Law Sections of the Maryland State Bar Association, the Estate and Gift Tax Study Group of the Maryland State Bar Association, and the Estates, Trusts and Elder Law Section of the Howard County Bar Association. He is a past Chairman of the Howard County Bar Association's Library Committee. Mr. Bernard volunteered to assist the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) and the Income Tax Preparation Clinic of the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS), which helps low income tax payers prepare tax returns and resolve disputes with the IRS.

He is a member of the distinguished international legal fraternity Phi Delta Phi, and past president of the St. Thomas More Society of Maryland.

Mr. Bernard recently served on the Board of Directors of the Village of Owen Brown in Columbia, and on the Board of Directors of the Potomac-Patuxent Chapter, Trout Unlimited. For several years, he served as Treasurer of Resurrection Council #11341, Knights of Columbus. Mr. Bernard has published articles and regularly lectures to community groups on estate planning, guardianship and probate issues. He is an avid sailor, a licensed pilot and a veteran of the United States Air Force.