RIVERSIDE - The Senate today confirmed a Riverside-based federal public defense attorney as a federal judge in California.

Jesus G. Bernal, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in April, will preside over matters in Riverside for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Bernal has been the directing attorney of the Riverside office of the Deputy Federal Public Defender since 2006. From 1996 to 2006, he worked in the Los Angeles office.

Before joining the public defender's office, Bernal spent almost five years as a litigation associate at the law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe LLP in Los Angeles, focusing primarily on complex civil litigation.

He began his Advertisement

[ Carrington Home Loans ] legal career as a clerk to U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon from 1989 to 1991.

Bernal received his law degree in 1989 from Stanford Law School and earned his undergraduate degree in 1986 from Yale University.

Calling him a highly qualified candidate, Obama previously said Bernal would join other "distinguished public servants and valuable additions to the United States District Court."

Bernal fills the long-standing vacancy in the Eastern division that arose when former district judge Stephen G. Larson resigned in November 2009 to go into private practice.

The Central District of California has responsibility for all federal litigation in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.