The Bernhoft Law Firm, S.C. - Our Team

Robert E. Barnes currently directs the west coast branch of the firm in Malibu, California, and focuses his practice in high profile criminal tax defense, and unique and complex civil litigation. Barnes has represented all kinds of clients with unique legal needs in difficult cases from Ralph Nader to Wesley Snipes.

Upon graduation as a scholarship student at the McCallie School of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Barnes accepted a scholarship from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. As a junior, Barnes left Yale to publicly protest Yale’s intention of limiting future admissions based on the financial ability of its applicants. After his protest, Yale ultimately reversed its position and chose to admit all students based on merit rather than financial wealth. Awarded a Coca-Cola National Scholarship, one of the most competitive and generous private scholarships in the country, Barnes left Yale and graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in his hometown. Prior to law school, Barnes worked as a political strategist and consultant for emerging software companies. After graduating from college, the University of Wisconsin at Madison awarded Barnes a fellowship to attend law school. At law school, Barnes earned the Mathys Award for Appellate Advocacy for the Best Oral Advocate on the Moot Court Board. Barnes also took top honors for Best Oralist at the National Criminal Defense Moot Court Competition in New York.

After graduation and prior to joining the Bernhoft Law Firm, Barnes practiced law in Tennessee and Wisconsin. Here Barnes represented a broad range of clients before state and federal courts at the trial and appellate levels in civil and criminal litigation, focusing on creative, aggressive representation in difficult cases with exceptional results.

Barnes is licensed to practice in California, Tennessee and Wisconsin, and has been admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Central, Northern and Southern Districts of California, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the United States Tax Court, and the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and has appeared on behalf of clients across the country pro hac vice in federal courts from Maine to Washington.