Ascent Law Team

At Ascent Law Group Northwest, P.C., we are dedicated to providing outstanding legal services. Each member of our team brings a unique perspective and skill set to our firm, allowing us to provide comprehensive legal services in various practice areas (including business law, real estate, estate planning, regulatory compliance, and more). Above all, our team members share a commitment to providing personalized attention, practical solutions and professional client service to help our clients achieve their legal goals.  

Edward "Ted" Bernhard
President

Ted has nearly thirty years of experience practicing business and finance law at large and small law firms, as inside and outside general counsel for private companies and as an executive officer or board member for various businesses, investment funds and non-profit organizations. He was most recently the managing partner for the Oregon office of a regional business law firm. Before that, he acted as a lawyer and practice group leader for two of the largest law firms in Oregon. Additionally, Ted has been an executive officer for a private corporation and a principal for a Seattle-based investment banking firm and was the co-founder, managing partner and general counsel of a venture capital management company that raised and operated four separate venture capital funds in the Pacific Northwest, investing in over one hundred of the region’s high technology companies. He started his career as an analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton in New York City. 

Ted’s career and current practice both have been focused primarily on assisting entrepreneurs, investors and companies in high-growth, rapidly evolving industries. He decided to found and run Ascent Law when he recognized his client’s need for a more nimble and forward-thinking full-service business law firm than currently existed in the Pacific Northwest. 

Ted graduated from Willamette University College of Law where he was an editor of the Law Review and President of the Tax Law Society. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University (magna cum laude) in economics, with a focus on mathematical economics, including statistics, finance and banking. He is an active and licensed member of the Oregon State Bar Association.

In his spare time, Ted is an avid and passionate sports fan who is particularly fond of the Portland Timbers and Thorns soccer teams, the Portland Trailblazers, the Houston Astros and all things related to Formula One racing. He enjoys playing tennis, racquetball and golf, is learning pickleball, is a seasoned recreational birder/bird photographer and has two labradoodles.

Some of Ted's awards include:

He is also a frequent speaker and published author on current legal issues facing entrepreneurs and investors.

You can reach Ted at:
 ted.bernhard@ascentlawnorthwest.com
503.863.7407

Andrew Bernhard
Paralegal

Andrew is a seasoned business professional who has built a career over two decades in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. He served as Compliance Officer at Pioneer Pacific College, and he has worked in analytic roles in commercial real estate, sustainable energy, and government settings. In his role as a paralegal, Andrew is zealous about identifying information that can help clients navigate difficult legal and regulatory issues. He takes special pride in his ability to perform large-scale, detail-oriented legal research using skills he has honed through extensive education and his own original scholarship. 

Andrew holds a master’s degree in Classics from Oxford University. He has also earned a pair of bachelor’s degrees, the first from Willamette University and the second from Portland State University, both magna cum laude. At Portland State, he completed his degree in Molecular Biology with a perfect GPA. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Building on his work from Oxford, he has become a well-respected author and expert on various historical and linguistic topics. He has published a full-length book, as well as various periodical articles, encyclopedia entries and book chapters released by leading international publishing houses. He has even been featured as a key research analyst in a true-crime book written by an award-winning reporter.

While Andrew still dreams of hunting down antiquities around the world like Indiana Jones, he also finds himself content with the quieter life he leads these days. He currently volunteers with foster kids to help provide parents with respite care, having previously helped teach elementary students from diverse backgrounds in an ESL classroom. In his free time, Andrew enjoys swimming, kayaking and cheering on the Timbers from the Timbers Army section. He continues deciphering ancient Greek manuscripts for his scholarship. And he is especially fond of his sweet, adorable rescue dog, Spike.

You can reach Andrew at:
andrew.bernhard@ascentlawnorthwest.com

Veronica Darling
OF Counsel

Veronica began her legal career as a clerk to the Honorable Robert L. Hess and Honorable John Shephard Wiley Jr. of the Los Angeles Superior Court. She cut her teeth in litigation in Los Angeles, working for various municipalities throughout California as an associate at Richards, Watson & Gershon in Los Angeles and then focusing on complex commercial litigation at Miller Barondess LLP in Century City, CA, from 2011 to 2012. Veronica continued her work in complex commercial litigation, employment law, and business litigation at Epps & Coulson LLP in Los Angeles between 2012 and 2019 and expanded her practice to regulatory and transactional work as an in-house counsel and chief compliance officer for Peak Extracts in Portland, a women-owned cannabis extract business, from 2015 to 2019.

Veronica has substantial experience in high stakes litigation, including successfully defending a Southern California city against a $100 million lawsuit by a globally known developer, prosecuting claims in adversary proceedings arising from the financial collapse of Lehman Brothers, and litigating a second amendment gun rights case that went before the Ninth Circuit of Appeals on three separate occasions. 

Veronica holds a B.A. in Political Science from Washington State University and received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 2007. While pursuing her law degree, she served as an extern for the third division of the California Court of Appeals for the Second District. She is admitted to practice in California, Washington, and Oregon. 

You can reach Veronica at:
info@ascentlawnorthwest.com