Mr. Bernheim was born in 1948 in San Francisco, California and grew up in nearby Richmond. He attended college at the University of California, Davis graduating in 1970 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He was a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and president of the student chapter of the American Chemical Engineering Society.

Mr. Bernheim received his legal education at the U.C. Davis Law School and was admitted to practice in California in 1973. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and before the Supreme Court of California and the Supreme Court of the United States.

He spent his first few years as an intellectual property attorney dealing with patents, licenses and trademarks. After two years with the DuPont Corporation in Delaware, in 1976 he returned to California as a patent attorney for Envirotech Corporation in Menlo Park, California. From 1978 to 1982 he worked for the U.S. Department of Energy at its regional office in Oakland, California. In 1982 he entered private practice in Dixon with the firm.

Mr. Bernheim is a long time Rotarian and a past president of his local Dixon club. As avid bicyclists, Mr. Bernheim and his wife have toured by bicycle nationally and internationally. He is a past president of the Davis Bike Club. Mr. Bernheim has also served as a director on the board of the Dixon Chamber of Commerce and presently serves as a director of the Vacaville Museum.