Honorable Ana D. Hernandez

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Judge Hernandez was raised in Miami, Florida. She obtained her

Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida and her Juris Doctor from the University of

Miami, School of Law. Prior to law school, she was a special education teacher teaching middle

school students in the subject areas of Reading and Language Arts. She was promoted to

department chair of the special education program and led many initiatives to better serve the

student population and teachers within the Special Education program.

While an assistant public defender, she represented many individuals charged in matters of

varied complexity such as murders, rapes, handgun violations, drug distribution, and violations

of probation to name a few. During her career, she had many bench and jury trials in Baltimore

City. Prior to her work in Maryland, she was a Fellow through the University of Miami School

of Law’s Legal Corps Program and worked in the Public Defender Service of Washington, D.C.,

(PDS)’s Community Defender Division. In that capacity, she represented detained juveniles in

revocation of release hearings. She also represented detained juveniles in matters of educational

concerns and charged with violations of detention center policies.

Judge Hernandez is deeply committed to mentoring and education. During the past two years,

she has served as a Committee Member of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA)’s

Leadership Academy. In that capacity, she has mentored fellows tasked with creating legal

projects to impact the community. She is also the 2025-2026 President-Elect of the Maryland

Hispanic Bar Association (MHBA) and has been an Executive Board Member of that bar since

2023. She is one of the chairs of the Student Affairs and Mentoring Subcommittee of the MHBA

and helped revamp their mentoring program, along with co-creating a speed mentoring event at

the University of Baltimore School of Law for current law school students from the Baltimore

area and undergrad students interested in the law.

Judge Hernandez has been a guest speaker at the University of Baltimore School of Law,

University of Maryland School of Law, and Georgetown Law in matters ranging from juvenile

defense, client-centered representation, interpretation concerns and lawyering, and on the

importance of mentoring. Judge Hernandez has presented on various topics to the Maryland

Judiciary, including, Sex Offender Dynamics, Religious Diversity, Gender Identity and

Accessibility Best Practices, and LGBTQ+ Best Practices for Judges. She has volunteered as a

mock trial judge for competitions at the University of Maryland School of Law and through

Maryland Youth & the Law (MY LAW).

She has been involved in the following bar associations: the LGBTQ Bar Association of

Maryland (2019-present); The Maryland State Bar Association (2018-2022), Sergeant’s Inn Law

Club (2022-2024); the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges (2022). She is also a proud

graduate of the MSBA’s Leadership Academy where she was a fellow from 2018-2019.

Judge Hernandez is involved in various committees within the Maryland Judiciary that are

focused on the importance of access and the law, including: the Court Access Committee, the

Accessibility and Accommodations Subcommittee, the Language Access Subcommittee, the Community Outreach Subcommittee of the Maryland Judicial Council’s Equal Justice, and the

Public Safety Committee for the Baltimore City District Court.

She was admitted to Maryland Bar in 2014; the District of Columbia Bar in 2013 (inactive); the

Florida Bar in 2012 (inactive); The United States Supreme Court in 2016.

Judge Hernandez has received recognition for her work in mentoring and community involvement: the Outstanding Achievement Award-MHBA, 2022; the Dean Jose Bahamonde-

Gonzalez Impacto Award from the University of Maryland School of Law’s Latinx Students Association, 2024.

Judge Hernandez was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to the District Court of Maryland for

Baltimore City in February 2022. She has been serving as a judge for the citizens of Baltimore

City, Maryland since March 2022.