Election & Political

Mark D. Frederick has over 20 years of legal experience, enabling him to handle the demands of your case regardless of the complexities involved. As your attorney, Mr. Frederick will advocate strongly on your behalf to protect your rights and interests while working hard to achieve the positive results you expect. For high-quality assistance and support for your serious legal matter from an attorney you can trust, you can contact the Law Offices of Mark D. Frederick, LLC, to schedule a consultation about your case.

After spending his early childhood on Long Island, New York, Mr. LoBianco moved to Hernando County, Florida with his loving parents and two younger siblings. Upon graduating high school, with honors, Christopher attended Florida State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science, minoring in communication and public administration, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Before returning to Florida State University to attend the top 50 nationally ranked College of Law, Mr. LoBianco took a long-term substitute position for a third grade class at the Elementary School he once attended. While in law school, Mr. LoBianco excelled in all things family law. He worked as a Supreme Court Certified Legal Intern in the school's Public Interest Family Law Center, and received the "book award" for the highest grade in the Florida Dissolution of Marriage class. Christopher was on the dean’s list every semester and graduated FSU College of Law Cum Laude in 2009. In early 2010, after passing the Florida Bar on his first attempt, Mr. LoBianco moved to Orange Park, Florida to work at a busy law firm. Mr. LoBianco has primarily practiced in the area of Family Law for the past 9 plus years, personally handling hundreds of hearings, mediations and trials. Prior to joining Douglas Law Firm, Mr. LoBianco was a Senior Associate for a successful local law firm practicing family law, estate planning and probate. Today, Chris Lobianco leads the Family Law practice group for Douglas Law Firm.

Attorney Marc Karlin is a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Karlin & Karlin, Attorneys at Law, practicing throughout Southern California in the areas of Immigration law & Personal Injury law, & Business Litigation. A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Karlin earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California at San Diego and his Juris Doctorate law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. While attending law school, Mr. Karlin completed an externship for the Honorable Cynthia Holcomb Hall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to forming Karlin & Karlin in 1993, Marc Karlin worked as an associate attorney in law firms in San Diego and Los Angeles. Mr. Karlin maintains his commitment to the legal profession and professional growth through membership in several professional organizations, such as the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. In service to the community, Mr. Karlin lends his legal expertise on a pro bono basis to Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles, founded by one of his Loyola High School instructors, Fr. Greg Boyle.

Born in the tiny coal-mining community of Williamson and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, by blue-collar working-class parents who placed a premium on hard work, honesty, and personal integrity, Bernie Layne of Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC learned from an early age that his path to success would have to be paved with over achievement. While both of his parents grew up in abject poverty that can only be understood or imagined by those who have experienced day-to-day life in ‘coal camp’ housing in southern West Virginia, they became acutely aware of the value and necessity of education and sweat equity as a means of rising above their circumstance. It is from this culture and environment that Bernie’s parents instilled in him, and his two sisters, to never forget where they have come from and to always use their God-given talents and abilities to help people around them who are disadvantaged, hurting, disabled, destitute, or who are being abused by those in a more powerful position than themselves in society. Growing up in Parkersburg, just across the river from Marietta and Belpre, Ohio, he gained a deep, abiding respect for the hardworking people on both sides of the border. Rising from the social position of an ‘underdog,’ it isn’t hard to understand how Bernie has come to embrace these roots by becoming a highly successful legal advocate and defender of the rights of injured working-class West Virginians and Ohioans. A Strong Competitive Spirit As you can imagine, it takes tremendous family support and lots of competitive spirit to become one of only a few college graduates in his family and to become the first lawyer in his immediate or extended family. That love for competition was introduced to him as a child, by his father, an accomplished sportswriter at the Williamson Daily News. Bernie developed a love for the game of basketball and baseball and eventually earned a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia. As a college student-athlete, Bernie was introduced to the importance of academic and athletic discipline, teamwork, handling success and overcoming failure. As his dream of playing professional baseball faded, his commitment to personal development and higher education strengthened. Before leaving UC, Bernie was named the Ivor F. Boiarsky Award Winner, which annually recognizes the top Political Science Student in the graduating class, won a statewide award for his senior thesis, in the area of Public Law Policy, on the pitfalls and environmental evils associated with an inadequate and corrupt strip mine permitting system in West Virginia, was voted by his peers as the Student Body President and was chosen by the administration to deliver the commencement address on behalf of his graduating class, while sharing the stage with the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. Inspired to help the disadvantaged Using his undergraduate success as a springboard, Bernie went on to attend graduate school at The Ohio University, where he received a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology. After graduate school, Bernie returned to Appalachia where he worked with elderly and disabled individuals through the Title 19 Medicaid Waiver Program in Southern West Virginia. The year spent working with catastrophically injured people through Title 19 firmed his resolve and commitment to make a difference in the lives of the hardworking citizens of this state. This experience made Bernie aware of the obstacles that face disabled and poverty-stricken individuals and the myriad of statutory and legal hurdles they face, while unable to afford adequate legal assistance to address their needs. Bernie’s disappointment in the legal system and its treatment of handicapped, disabled, and elderly individuals led him to attend law school at The University of Dayton School of Law where he graduated with his Juris Doctor in the Spring of 1999. After finishing law school, Bernie remained in Dayton as a judicial extern for The Honorable Barbara Gorman, the first female judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. In the years following his law school graduation, Bernie has remained committed to preserving the rights of injured and disadvantaged citizens of our state and has limited his practice to cases which involve people who have been injured due to the negligence of another person, corporation or governmental body. Throughout his career, he has successfully taken on big corporate asbestos producers who exposed plant workers and pipefitters to deadly and cancer-causing asbestos fibers. He has successfully confronted coal mining companies that deliberately injured workers through a neglect of OSHA regulations and state laws designed to protect this state’s workers. Further, Bernie has successfully resolved wrongful death cases involving children, medical malpractice and poorly designed products by large corporate interests who chose to place profits as a priority over the safety of our citizens. In 2021, Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC expanded to a new office in Columbus, OH. For Bernie, who earned both of his graduate degrees in Ohio and has many close family members in Columbus and the surrounding towns, this was a homecoming of sorts, an opportunity to advocate for hardworking people throughout both Ohio and West Virginia. Recognized by his peers Bernie’s success and achievement have been greatly rewarded as he and his partners have built an accomplished law firm at Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC. His professional attributes and success have also been noticed by his trial lawyer peers. In 2005, he was given the Distinguished Service Award by the West Virginia Association for Justice (WVAJ), which is a group that represents the interests of the injured and disabled in West Virginia. Attorney Layne has been a member of WVAJ and the American Association for Justice for more than a decade. He is past president of WVAJ, serving from June 2013 to June 2014. He has also served on the WVAJ Executive Committee (nine years), the WVAJ Board of Governors and as a member of the LAWPAC organization. He was recently invited to join the prestigious, Southern Trial Lawyers organization and has been apponted to The Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center where he serves on its Executive and Building & Grounds Committees. Additionally, he served a two-year stint as a member of the West Virginia Bar Association’s Judicial Campaign Advertising Committee, which sought to regulate unfair, unethical and untruthful advertising during judicial campaign election cycles. In 2013, he was appointed to the University of Charleston Board of Trustees and served on the Executive and Outreach Committees within that board. He is now serving his twelfth year on the board. In 2014, he was named Alumnus of the Year at the University of Charleston. In 2017, he was appointed chairman of the Welch Challenge Campaign, an $8 million fund-raising initiative at the school. Also in 2013, Mr. Layne received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating attorneys can achieve from that organization. Only 2% of all practitioners nationwide earn that rating. In 2018, Bernie was selected to the West Virginia Super Lawyers list by his peers. Bernie has obtained several significant verdicts and settlements and has been granted membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. On a community level, Bernie recently completed a seven-year term on the Putnam County Career and Technical Center’s Healthcare Advisory Board, on which he worked with other community leaders to design, implement and guide the LPN Nursing Program at the school. His efforts in this area are consistent with his desire to work toward broad based community and rural health care initiatives which support healthcare for the underprivileged throughout our state’s communities.

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David M. Carlson, an esteemed attorney with a notable track record, currently practices personal injury and criminal defense law. He has been duly admitted to the Illinois bar since 2001 and is also accredited to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern Districts of Illinois and Indiana since 2002 and 2003, respectively. His legal career is distinguished by his comprehensive understanding and application of the law, drawn from his extensive educational background and professional experiences. David completed his law degree at Northern Illinois University College of Law in 2001, where he was honored as the class speaker at his graduation. He furthered his education with a specialized program in 2021 through the Judicial Education Program at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia School of Law. This program enhanced his knowledge in a broad range of topics, including corporate governance, economics, and the responsibilities of corporate entities towards stakeholders. Before commencing his law studies, David earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Arizona in 1993. Throughout his college years, he was an active member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and worked various jobs, from delivering packages for United Parcel Service to construction work, to finance his education. Alongside practicing law, David served in the judiciary from 2013 to 2024. He began as an Associate Judge in the 12th Judicial Circuit, Will County, Illinois, where he handled an array of cases spanning family law to civil and criminal matters. Following this role, he was promoted to Circuit Judge, presiding over the felony division, which is the second largest in the state. Under his leadership, his team was responsible for managing a robust caseload and integrating new technological systems into the court’s operations. He was commended for his diligence and commitment to justice and retention in a 2020 general election with a significant majority vote affirmed his position. Today, David is not only a member of the Illinois State Bar Association but also retains his connections with the Illinois Judges Association, reflecting his ongoing commitment to his professional community. His former role as both Associate Judge and Circuit Judge illustrates his depth of experience and leadership abilities, particularly in managing complex legal challenges and advancing judiciary processes. David M. Carlson is more than just a seasoned attorney; he is a respected professional who brings a wealth of knowledge, a deep sense of responsibility, and proven leadership to every case. He represents clients with both tenacity and integrity, ensuring that their legal needs are met with the highest standards of excellence.