Barmann Jr. Appointed to Court

by Hon. Susan M. Gill

Judge Bernard C. Barmann, Jr. – Bernie, to his many friends – has had an interesting and challenging career as an attorney, and he looks forward to the same in his new career on the bench.

Judge Barmann was born at the Ohio State University Hospital, in view of the football stadium. It is not surprising, therefore, that he is a diehard Buckeyes fan. Bernard Barmann, Sr., was a professor in the Classics Department at The Ohio State University. When young Bernie was three, the family moved to Toronto, where his father had secured a position teaching at the university. Soon thereafter, however, Bernie’s maternal grandfather passed away in Escondido, and when the school year ended in Toronto the family moved to Escondido. There Bernard Sr. entered law school and sold real estate to support the family, while Bee Barmann stayed home with Bernie and his sister, Brigit.

Judge Barmann describes an idyllic childhood, fi rst in San Diego, and later in Bakersfi eld. Their last home in San Diego was near Mission Bay, and the fi reworks over Sea World were visible nightly from their front yard. When Bernie was eight, his mother told him they were moving to Bakersfi eld, where his father had been hired by the Kern County Counsel. He remembers asking, “Where in the world is that?” When shown Bakersfi eld on a map, he lamented the fact that it appeared to be 100 miles from anything. Nonetheless, he soon felt very lucky to live in Bakersfi eld, as he made many friends at school and in the Park Stockdale neighborhood where the family settled. household, and Bernie played the clarinet, the trombone, and eventually focused exclusively on drums. In junior high school, a teacher introduced the class to public speaking and debate, and that awoke a new passion in this student. Living in the Bakersfi eld High School attendance area, Bernie looked forward to playing for BHS’s award-winning band. However, when he learned that BHS did not have a forensics program at that time, he persuaded his parents to move to a home in the West High area, as that school had both a band and a forensics program. After participating in both the West High marching band and forensics program, he was faced with a confl ict in the middle of his freshman year. A required class was offered only at same time as band and debate, forcing him to give up one of his electives. He chose debate and gave up playing the drums completely . . . for 35 years.

Judge Barmann studied Economics and Accounting at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont. In his junior year at Claremont McKenna, he was nominated to attend Columbia Law School and earn his B.A. and J.D. in six years, with the B.A. being awarded at the end of the fi rst year in law school. As he laughingly explained, “When I was a 1L, and most of my classmates had undergraduate degrees from prestigious colleges and universities (mostly Ivy League schools), I had only a high school diploma from West High School.”

In law school Barmann was recruited by the fi rm of O’Melveny & Myers, and he went to work for the fi rm in their downtown Los Angeles offi ce upon his graduation from Columbia. He worked for O’Melveny and other fi rms in Los Angeles, including his own fi rm, Hirschmann & Barmann, for 22 years. Although he was a litigation specialist, he handled cases in many different areas of the law, including patent litigation, complex contract disputes, public utilities, toxic torts, probate, anti-trust, tax, and entertainment.

Judge Barmann returned to Bakersfi eld in 2011 and went to work for the fi rm of Kuhs & Parker. His fi rst trial in Bakersfi eld as an attorney was before Judge Lampe in Department 10. Coincidentally, that is the courtroom where Judge Barmann currently sits. He particularly enjoyed his work representing the Greater Bakersfi eld Separation of Grade District, which resulted in a much needed double underpass in Northwest Bakersfi eld. In 2016 he attended a 42-hour training program in Mediation at Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, and he successfully conducted several mediations.

Although Judge Barmann grew up here, much happened in the intervening years when he was in school and practicing law in Los Angeles. Thus, he is much like Rip Van Winkle, learning anew about his formerly familiar community. Nonetheless he has embraced this community with the same enthusiasm and fervor as he did when he fi rst moved here as a child. He joined the West Rotary Club, helped found the West High School Alumni Association, and became involved in the Kern County Bar Association. At the time of his appointment to the bench, he was moving through the chairs of bar leadership on his way to the presidency.

Shortly after his return to Bakersfi eld, Judge Barmann picked up his drum sticks for the fi rst time since he was 14. He bought a set of drums and began learning how to play again. When he discovered that one of his fellow Rotarians, Leo Ruiz, played guitar and sang in his own band, Barmann suggested they jam sometime. Ruiz called him one day and said his band, La Revancha needed a drummer for a gig, and he invited Barmann to play with them. The band plays a combination of rock and roll songs by bands such as the Doors, U2, the Rolling Stones, The Cure, and the Eagles, and Spanish music that Barmann describes as “songs that you might have heard in a bar in Tijuana in the 1990s.” Bernie played with La Revancha for two and a half years, before taking a break due to the pandemic. Although his kindergarten teacher opined that Bernie Barmann would be a good judge, because he had a strong sense of fairness and justice, he did not give serious thought to a career on the bench until several years after he returned to Bakersfi eld. Governor Newson was clearly persuaded by Barmann’s impressive litigation career, mediation experience, and even temperament, and he appointed Barmann to the bench in late 2020.

As a judge, Barmann hopes “to give all parties who appear before me a sense that they have been heard and respected, and that I have done everything possible to make just decisions based on the law at every turn.” He added, “I hope to give litigants and lawyers confi dence that they will receive a fair shake in my courtroom . . . and that I will be On a more personal note, Judge Barmann looks forward to being able to travel more and to spend time with his family. He is married to Tracie Barmann. Together they have fi ve children – Judge Barmann’s three adult children, and Tracie’s adolescent daughters. They also have a maltipoo named Smalls, which gives Judge Barmann the delightful opportunity to say daily, “You’re killing me, Smalls.”

Kern County is lucky to have had two generations of Barmann attorneys in our legal community, and now we look forward to an excellent judicial career of Bernard C. Barmann, Jr.

Local Mock Trial Competitions Allow Students a Closer Look at Judicial System

Every year, students throughout Kern County are given the opportunity to participate in a Mock Trial Competition, sponsored by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Kern County Bar Association, Kern County Superior Courts of California, Kern County Sheriff’s Department and Sherriff’s Reserves. Competing high school students act as prosecution attorneys, defense attorneys, defendants, and witnesses in a simulated court case with the winning team going on to represent Kern County in the state meet usually held in March Along with allowing students the ability to acquire a working knowledge of the judicial system, students also gain analytical abilities and communication skills and ultimately, provide students a view of their obligations and responsibilities as participating members of our society.

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