Judge Victor Bianchini

Judge Bianchini is a retired San Diego County Superior Court Judge. He is also a retired U.S. Magistrate Judge and a retired Colonel of the United States Marine Corps. His judicial career has been varied and lengthy. He was appointed to the position of U.S. Commissioner and served from 1968 to 1969. He was then appointed a U.S. Magistrate Judge by the Southern District of California in 1974 and served until 1982.  He vacated that position to accept a California state court position.  He retired as a Superior Court Judge in 2002.  After retiring from the state court bench, he was recalled part-time to the Western District of New York, Buffalo, New York. He is now again an active Superior Court Judge, as a dedicated mediator of complex civil litigation cases.

He then served attended law school as a second lieutenant and later a first lieutenant under the PLC Law program, and after graduation and admission to the bar, he began active duty from 1964 to 1967 with the United States Marine Corps. Leaving active duty, he remained in the Marine Corps Reserve. During his service 31 years of service, Judge Bianchini served as a tank platoon commander, Force Reconnaissance platoon commander (parachute qualified), a Force Recon Commanding Officer, the Commanding Officer of a Law MTU, numerous assignments as a staff judge advocate, and a general courts-martial judge and OIC of the Sierra Circuit Judge Unit. He served on active duty during Desert Shield/Desert Storm as an inspector general investigator. His last assignment was as the Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. European Command, after which he retired on July 1, 1991.

During Vietnam, from 1965 to 1966, he served as the 1 st Marine Aicraft Wing (MAW) Photo
officer, did duty as a combat correspondent and photojournalist together with combat air crewman duties, and as the Wing Civil Affairs Officer.  Included in his 24 military decorations are the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with Combat "V", 3 Air Medals, and the Combat Action Ribbon.  For service in the European Command (NATO) as Deputy IG, where he completed the NATO Senior Officers Course in Oberammergau, Germany, he received the Joint Services Commendation Medal and following service during Desert Shield/Desert Storm duty, he received the Legion of Merit. He retired with the rank of Colonel. He later was selected to serve in retirement on the Secretary of the Navy’s Retiree Council in 2002.

Immediately prior to his retirement from the San Diego Superior Court in 2002, he served for 3 months, during a leave of absence, as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the Sub-Saharan African country of Eritrea as a consultant to the Minister of Justice, where he wrote the judiciary’s Code of Conduct, wrote a 2,000-page judicial education syllabus, and taught South African Law to a select group of Eritrean judges.

Judge Bianchini served as a Director, Treasurer and Vice President of the San Diego County Bar Association from 1978 to 1980, and was re-elected in 2019 year serving again as a Director and Vice President. He is the past president of the MCRD Museum Historical Foundation, was Chairman of the Flying Leathernecks Historical Foundation, was the President of the San Diego Kiwanis Foundation in 2021, is a life member of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association, and a life member of the U.S. Marine Corps Tanker’s Association (he served as a platoon commander, of a tank platoon at the 4th Tank Battalion, USMCR). He is also a life member of the Disabled American Veterans, a Life member of the Jewish War Veterans, and a life member of the VFW. He served a 9-year term, 4 years of which was as Vice-Chair on the board of the Veterans Village of San Diego. He is past president of the San Diego County Law Library (2 terms), past president of the San Diego County Public Law Library Foundation, and currently serves on its board. He was a three-year director on the Executive Board of the California Judges Association.