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. He also served as a U.S. Commissioner in the San Diego Federal Court 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 judgeship. 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 as a U.S. Magistrate Judge while engaged in a private mediation and arbitration practice in San Diego. He served the Western District until 2006, at which time he was appointed to a full-time position serving both the Western and Northern Districts of New York until 2012. After a brief 2-year stint as a judge for the Eastern District of Washington, he was assigned part-time to the Central District of California where he still serves. He continues his mediation and arbitration practice with Judicate West San Diego.
After graduating from the University of San Diego School of Law, Judge Bianchini served as the confidential law clerk to Chief Judge James M. Carter of the Southern District of California from 1963 to 1964. He then served on active duty from 1964 to 1967. 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, a force reconnaissance platoon commander, as a Force Reconnaissance Commanding Officer, the commanding officer of a Reserve Law Unit, a general courts-martial judge and Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. European Command. During Vietnam, from 1965 to 1966, he served as a combat correspondent and photojournalist and combat air crewman. Included in his 24 military decorations are the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Combat "V", 3 Air Medals with Combat “V” and the Combat Action Ribbon. He later received the Joint Services Commendation Medal following service during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He retired in 1991 with the rank of Colonel.
During his judicial service, he was honored as "Judge of the Year" by the San Diego Trial Lawyers, received the Foothills Bar Association Legal Professional of the Year award, received Family Law Judge of the Year Honors from the El Cajon Superior Court, and was the named a “Distinguished Alumni” of San Diego State University in 2018. He was also awarded the “Witkin Award” by the San Diego County Law Library for Excellence in the Adjudication of the Law in 2019. Immediately prior to his retirement from the Superior Court he served, during a leave of absence from the bench in 2002, as a Senior Fulbright Scholar to the Sub-Saharan African country of Eritrea.
Judge Bianchini was the Vice Chair of the Vietnam Veteran's Village of San Diego, a Past President of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Museum Historical Society, is a Life Member of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association, a Life Member of the Force Reconnaissance Association, a Life Member of the U.S. Marine Corps Helicopter Association (“Pop A Smoke”), a Director of the Marine Corps Reserve Association. He is also a Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans. He is on the board of the San Diego County Public Law Library Justice Foundation. He has also served in numerous adjunct professor positions, specializing in the field of evidence and business law and served on the Faculty Council of the National Judicial College. He was the volunteer debate coach for the Mt. Carmel High School Debate Team—from 2007 to 2011, and was named the Mt. Carmel Volunteer of the Year in 2007 by the Poway School District. He was also named by the San Diego County Bar Association as a “Legal Legend.”
Judge Bianchini assumed the Chairmanship of the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation in March 2020, after having served for 20 years on the Board of Directors.