ABOUT DEBRA

From her legal experience to her life experience as a mother and wife to her community involvement, Debra Bernes has experience that matters.

Bernes has practiced law in Georgia for 25 years, both as an Assistant District Attorney in Cobb County prosecuting felonies and handling appeals to the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court and as a general practitioner in Marietta. With over 50 cases argued and over 400 legal briefs filed in the Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court, Debra Bernes is widely respected across Georgia for her experience in appellate law. She has lectured on Appellate Practice for both the Local Government Law and Appellate sections of the State Bar of Georgia. Debra Bernes served as the President of the Cobb Bar Association and the Secretary of the Appellate Section of the State Bar of Georgia for the 2003-2004 year.

In just over 5 years, Bernes earned a Bachelors degree and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Florida. In 1979, she was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia and later was admitted to the Bar of the Georgia Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Georgia, United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, and the United States Court of Appeals.

From 1979 to 1999, Debra served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Cobb Judicial Circuit concentrating in felony prosecutions and appellate law. Since 2000, Debra has operated her own private practice, Debra Halpern Bernes, P.C., and has served in an of counsel capacity to the law firm of Bentley, Bentley, & Bentley. In private practice, Debra has represented clients in civil and criminal cases at the trial and appellate levels. She has handled a wide array of legal matters for clients including criminal and civil defense, business disputes, municipal and county government issues, and zoning and personnel issues.

Debra Bernes has also been an active partner with our law enforcement community. She authored case law update materials for the Cobb County Police Department and has been a frequent instructor at the North Georgia Police Academy. She has also been an instructor for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia as well as the National District Attorney’s Association. In 1979 Bernes was given a special award by the Marietta Police Department in recognition of her service as a legal advisor for a "Sting" operation that resulted in the recovery of a large quantity of stolen goods.

Debra Bernes has also been an active leader in her community. She is a member of the Kiwanis of Marietta, and current co-chair of its Community Service Committee. In 1997, she was granted the Distinguished Service Award by her Kiwanis group. She is a former member of the Community Service Committee of her son’s school, the Cobb-Marietta Junior League, the Willow Point Service League and the East Cobb Jaycees. Debra is also a supporter and participant of Kids Voting Cobb, a project that hopes to ultimately increase voter participation by starting with elementary school students.

A native Georgian, Debra and her husband, Gary, have two wonderful children: Lanie (21) attends Indiana University, and Matthew (17), is a twelfth grader attending high school in Cobb County. The Bernes attend Congregation Etz Chaim and Ahavath Achim synagogues. They live in Marietta, Georgia.