Law Offices of William V. Pernik

Firm Phone:

+1 831-222-3922

Our lawyer, William Pernik, brings with him a wealth of experience in the industry combined with stellar academic credentials. A cum laude graduate of University of San Francisco School of Law, with CALI Awards for Excellence in Death Penalty Law, Federal Courts, and Juvenile Law, he excelled academically in his legal studies and graduated with a Certificate in Public Interest Law. After passing the California Bar on his first try, William Pernik worked as a research attorney for a prestigious criminal defense firm in San Francisco, and later in the Public Defender Offices in Tulare and Monterey counties, where he learned the tools of the trade from some of the finest criminal lawyers in the industry.

During his career as a public defender in Tulare County, Mr. Pernik distinguished himself by obtaining a record number of acquittals in complex felony cases, including three strikes DUI with multiple victims who sustained great bodily injuries, crimes of residential burglary, armed robbery, rape, kidnapping, assaults, thefts, domestic violence, and sales of drugs, among others. He fought the Tulare prosecutors in many serious gang cases, including capital homicides, and was successful in obtaining a dismissal of all charges against his gang injunction client after several years of fighting the case in trial and appellate courts. He also defended a well-publicized murder trial of a wrong-way drunk driver who killed two people and seriously injured a third, who survived.

Mr. Pernik continued his career as a public defender in Monterey County, where he moved in 2012 after meeting his wife. During that time, he took special interest in cases involving mentally ill or developmentally disabled clients, veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, and persons with serious substance abuse disorders. Because of Mr. Pernik’s efforts, many of these cases were dismissed, received special consideration at sentencing and from the Probation Department, or benefited from diversion or referrals to specialty courts, such as drug court or mental health court. Mr. Pernik tried many cases in front of different Monterey County judges and has obtained dismissals or acquittals in many complex or sensitive matters, such as carjacking, assaults with deadly weapon or causing great bodily injuries, gang crimes, residential burglaries, meeting a minor for lewd purposes, domestic violence, attempted murder, rape, and sodomy, to name a few.

Mr. Pernik left the Public Defender’s Office to start his own practice in September of 2015. He lives in Monterey County with his wife, Olga, their son Jacob, and a collie named Charlie. His private criminal defense practice in Salinas, CA focuses exclusively on defense of criminal cases, and is built upon a foundation of his life-long pursuit of justice, dignity, and equality for all of his clients, regardless of their criminal past or current accusations.

Main Practice Area:

Criminal Defense

Years in Practice:

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