Family Court judge seeks 2nd term

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

Bernadette D’Souza quite literally created the Orleans Parish Family Court. She championed the legislation to create a dedicated domestic seat in Civil District Court, and the voters rewarded her by electing her to new post. Now she seeks a second term to “provide the continuity needed to best serve the interests of the families and children of our community who come before the Court.”

“Prior to this legislation, the domestic judges rotated off to general jurisdiction. Now, litigants are better served as the judges elected to the domestic sections will remain there throughout their tenure at Civil District Court.”

She hopes to continue that continuity, and her background, she tells The Louisiana Weekly, would helps her understand their struggles. “I have dedicated my legal career to public interest law representing indigent clients in family law, housing, and domestic violence cases. Prior to my election as Judge, I practiced extensively in the domestic sections of Civil District Court.”

“I have represented hundreds of clients in the courtroom in family law, domestic violence and housing law matters. I spent over a decade promoting awareness to domestic violence issues by devoting time to educating and supervising law students from Tulane Law School and from around the country post-Katrina. I have served as adjunct professor at Tulane Law School, teaching a course on family law and domestic violence and instructing students through a clinical externship program. I have also served as a guest lecturer at Loyola University College of Law on topics of domestic violence and poverty law. “

“These various experiences over the course of my professional career have helped to ensure that I have the experience, leadership and integrity necessary to continue my work as Judge for Civil District Court, Domestic Section 1.”

“When I was elected as Judge for the first dedicated domestic seat at Civil District Court in 2012,” D’Souza noted, “my campaign was about implementing institutional reform to help children and families who are experiencing distress in divorce, custody, and domestic violence disputes. Over the past couple years, we have made significant progress towards that goal by increasing resources for self-represented litigants, implementing programs to manage the domestic docket in a fair and efficient manner, and using community-based resources to further assist families outside of the courtroom. I am running for re-election to continue this work, which has been my passion and vision throughout eighteen years of practice as a legal aid lawyer handling primarily family law and domestic violence matters.”

She runs on three primary campaign planks, “Utilizing resources outside the courtroom to assist families in working through their differences, Expanding resources available to self-represented litigants; [and] Participating with community-based taskforces.”

This article originally published in the October 27, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.