Bernadette D'Souza

Bernadette D'Souza (born 1954; née Gomes) was elected to be the first Family Court judge on the Civil District Court in Orleans Parish. She is also the first female Indian-American judge in the state of Louisiana. D'Souza was born in Portuguese Goa, and received a degree in Psychology from the University of Bombay.

Early life and education D’Souza was born in 1954 in Goa, India to Tony Gomes and Esmeralda Gomes. Her father was an accomplished musician in Bollywood which gave him the ability to put D’Souza into a convent boarding school. D’Souza went to college at the University of Mumbai where she met her future spouse, Terrence D'Souza. She was awarded with a honors degree in psychology and took a job in Tehran, Iran to support her family. In 1978 Terrence flew from the United States, where he was doing a residency at Tulane University Medical School, to Tehran and married Bernadette. Bernadette received a spousal visa three months later and joined him in New Orleans. Within this period she became a US citizen in 1988. Once all of Bernadette's children were in school, Bernadette considered getting her doctorate in Clinical psychology but instead pursued her lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer. She was inspired by Indira Gandhi who was the first female prime minister of India.

Early legal career D’Souza's first job out of law school was as a staff attorney at the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation in the domestic violence unit. She then became the managing attorney at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services in 2005, which provides representation for indigent clients.

In 2000 D'Souza was held at gunpoint outside the Gretna Courthouse with one of her clients by their abuser. This was after Bernadette had gotten a permanent injunction against him for her client. The man jumped out of a car and began shooting; D'Souza ran for help and turned to find a gun pointed at her.

Civil district court elections

2004 In 2004, Bernadette D'Souza ran for a judgeship on the Civil District Court of Orleans Parish, Division M. She ran against two other democratic candidates, Paulette Irons and Marie Williams. Paulette Irons had served on the Louisiana State Senate since 1994 up until her run for this election. D'Souza ran on a platform of creating specific sections of the Civil District Court dedicated to domestic issues, making sure they were taken as seriously as other matters. D'Souza lost this election to Irons, who has served on the court since her election in 2004. This position was one of two new specialty seats created by state law from the next two civil district court seat vacancies. The special election was a partisan run by simple majority rule, in the state of Louisiana if a candidate does not receive a simple majority of all candidates on the ballot in the primary the top two candidates are then voted upon in a new general election. D'Souza ran against two other opponents, Janet Ahern and Kris Kiefer, for the seat. She had the support of Civil District Court clerk Dale Atkins, State Sen. Julie Quinn, State Rep. Austin Badon and put out a list of 400 plus endorsements of her campaign. During this election she pledged to improve the office's community outreach, services for the underprivileged, and made pro se cases, those where clients defend themselves, an issue. Harrison's platform was on her more varied life and professional experience which made her better at judging cases that handle personal injury and bankruptcy claims and able to relate to family court clients as she was once surviving on child support.

Civil district court service

First term In her first term D’Souza created a mediation program in cases that dealt with custody, clearing more off the courts docket while more civilly solving the issues outside of the courtroom. This program was based on what the families could afford with their income.

Chief justice Judge D'Souza was elected to be the Chief justice of the Civil District Court for a two-year term by a vote of her peers on the court. Within this position she was tasked with supervising the administrative functions of the court. This also applied to individuals with protective orders against them.

Key cases

Jammall Breaux v. Devin Tipton (2018) In March 2018, D'Souza granted a protective order against the defendant Devin Tipton filed by Jammall Breaux for the protection of minor child J.B. Mr. Tipton was J.B.'s stepfather and the protective order was granted due to reported domestic violence against J.B. and his mother Mrs. Tipton. This case began with Mr. Breaux petitioning for a temporary restraining order which was granted. This restraining order was taken to trial court to decide whether the restraining order would be made into a protective order. Testimony showed that J.B. had reported to both his father and teachers domestic violence in the home against him and his mother. Dr. Jaligam and Pochampally were divorced in 2008 and came to an agreement on custody which Pochampally was found in contempt of multiple times, barring Dr. Jaligam's visitation of their children. In 2015 it was ruled that due to Dr. Pochampally's willful disregard of the court's rulings, Dr. Jaligam was made the domiciliary parent and then eventually was awarded sole custody in connection with an issue that occurred during a Christmas visit the children had with their father. of the National Association of Women Judges

Current memberships New Orleans Bar Association Louisiana State Bar Association Award YMCA Role Model Award Citizen Hero Award from Victims Citizens Against Crime Award Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence into Action Award Association for Women Attorneys’ Professionalism Award New Orleans Pro Bono Project's Distinguished Jurist Award National Association of Women Judges Justice Vaino Spencer Leadership Award.

Personal life In 2019, after 41 years of marriage, D'Souza's husband Dr. Terence D'Souza, a neurologist at the Ochsner Clinic, died of a heart attack leaving behind their three children and three grandsons.