About Paula Hough

Mrs. Hough graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology and Law. Upon her graduation, Mrs. Hough worked for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association prior to her entering the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. While in law school, Mrs. Hough was awarded the “Eleanor & James Clanton Haynes Memorial Law and Public Policy” fellowship, was a Senior Editor for a Law Journal, and volunteered for the Innocence Project investigating a case of wrongful conviction. During law school, Mrs. Hough also worked full-time as the Information Specialist for The Death Penalty Information Center where she delivered presentations about capital punishment to state, national and international organizations and even provided expert testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates. She graduated from the Columbus School of law cum laude in 2002. Mrs. Hough joined the Fairfax County Public Defender’s Office in 2003 where she zealously represented clients charged with everything from Reckless Driving and Driving While Intoxicated to abduction, rape and murder. Mrs. Hough was promoted to the position of Senior Assistant Public Defender, where she continued handling serious felonies in addition to training and supervising less experienced attorneys. Mrs. Hough joined the Gordon Law Firm in 2007 where she took the responsibility of opening the firm’s Central Virginia office. In 2009 she opened her own law practice, Brisendine, Overand, Buster and Bernstein, P.C.. After the birth of their first child in 2010, Mrs. Hough left her firm to join her husband and they opened BernsteinHough, P.C. Mrs Hough is currently on the Executive Board of the Greater Richmond Criminal Bar Assocation.