BERNADETTE DONOVAN

High-quality criminal defense representation requires a wide range of abilities, including expertise in legal research and writing, persuasive oral advocacy, thorough investigation and case preparation, and trial skills. Bernadette Donovan is accomplished in each of these areas and loves to advocate for her clients both in and outside the courtroom.

Bernadette takes a detail-intensive, client-centered approach to advocacy. One of Bernadette’s core beliefs is that it is impossible to provide the best representation to numerous clients at the same time. To ensure that her representation remains at the highest level, Bernadette always maintains a small caseload. If Bernadette takes your case, you can rest assured that she will be communicative, thoughtful, and responsive to your needs and questions.

Bernadette vigorously defends those accused of crimes at the trial level, on direct appeal, and in post-conviction proceedings. Bernadette is particularly experienced in the defense of complex criminal cases, including capital murder and other serious crimes. Because of this experience, Bernadette is often called on to educate legal professionals and law students about high-stakes criminal defense issues. Prior to the abolition of Virginia’s death penalty in 2021, Bernadette co-directed the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse (“VC3”), a yearlong clinic at Washington & Lee School of Law that provided legal support for Virginia capital defense teams. At that time, Bernadette was also Co-Chair of the Virginia Capital Defense Workshop, an annual multi-day training for attorneys defending death penalty cases. In recent years, Bernadette has taught courses in Death Penalty Law and Habeas Corpus as an Adjunct Professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law. Bernadette also has presented at many criminal defense trainings, including ones hosted by the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. As an experienced death penalty litigator, Bernadette has trained and consulted with numerous capital defense teams across the country.

Bernadette is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an Executive Editor of the Virginia Law Review and a member of the Innocence Project Clinic. Before that, she received her B.A. with both General and Departmental Honors from the University of Chicago, where she studied Human Development with a specialization in Mental Health Issues.

After law school, Bernadette began her career as a Law Fellow at the Northern Virginia Capital Defender Office. Bernadette then worked at the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender, where she represented death-sentenced persons in state post-conviction challenges to their convictions and sentences. Bernadette has been in private practice since 2012 and maintains a small, select caseload of clients accused of serious crimes in state or federal court.

Education:
Law School: University of Virginia (2011)
College: University of Chicago (2007)

Licensed to Practice:
Virginia
Tennessee (Inactive)

Bar Admissions:
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia
Supreme Court of Virginia
Tennessee Supreme Court

Community and Professional Associations:
Virginia State Bar
Co-Chair, Virginia Bar Association Capital Defense Workshop Planning Committee
Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Publications:
Bernadette M. Donovan, Certain Prosecutors: Geographical Arbitrariness, Unusualness, & the Abolition of Virginia’s Death Penalty, 29 WASH. & LEE J. CIV. RTS. & SOC. JUST. 1 (2022).

Bernadette M. Donovan & Edward J. Ungvarsky, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward—Or Has It Been a Path Misplaced?, THE CHAMPION, Jan.–Feb. 2012, at 22.

Deference in a Digital Age: The Video Record and Appellate Review, Note, 96 VA. L. REV. 643 (2010).