Bernadette M. Donovan

Bernadette Donovan is a partner in the Charlottesville, Virginia, law firm of Donovan & Engle, PLLC. Bernadette began her career as a Law Fellow at the Northern Virginia Capital Defender Office. After that, Bernadette worked at the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender, where she represented death-sentenced persons in state post-conviction challenges to their convictions and sentences. Bernadette has taught courses in both Death Penalty Law and Habeas Corpus at Washington & Lee University School of Law. Prior to the abolition of Virginia’s death penalty, Bernadette also co-directed the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse (“VC3”), a yearlong clinic at the law school that provided legal support for Virginia capital defense teams. At the time of abolition, Bernadette was Co-Chair of the Virginia Capital Defense Workshop, an annual multi-day training for attorneys defending death penalty cases. Bernadette is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an Executive Editor of the Virginia Law Review. Before that, she received her B.A. with both General and Departmental Honors from the University of Chicago, where she studied Human Development with a specialization in Mental Health Issues.  

Bernadette joined the Project in 2026.