7.30.23

Judge Bonner sets up legal education scholarship at WSU

The Hon. Robert C. Bonner fs ’61, a former U.S. District Judge and a former U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, has established a first-of-its-kind scholarship at Wichita State in support of the university’s Legal Education Accelerated Degree (LEAD) program, a partnership with the University of Kansas School of Law.

“As a lawyer, I was excited to learn about LEAD,” says Bonner, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maryland (1963) and Georgetown University Law Center (1966) whose impressive career has alternated between government service and private law practice. He currently is engaged in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a neutral arbitrator, mediator and homeland security consultant. “I thought that it was great that a student could attend WSU for three years and, if she or he did well, be guaranteed a spot at KU law school. I was delighted to be able to establish the first scholarship for a pre-law LEAD student.”

Launched in 2021, WSU’s LEAD program today boasts 22 students who are working toward, first, a bachelor’s degree from WSU and then a Juris Doctor from KU. LEAD students complete three years of work at WSU in one of five liberal arts and sciences areas, namely criminal justice, English, history, philosophy or political science. When students have met all program requirements, including qualifying LSAT scores and a character and fitness test mandated by the state bar association, they secure a place as first-year law students at KU. After that first year, 29 hours transfer back to Wichita State as general education credits to complete the BA – effectively giving LEAD students a year’s head start on the way to a JD and a career in law.

Although Bonner’s own path to a law degree took the more tradition four years of study for an undergraduate degree and then three for a JD (4+3), he says his father “had gone to KU and done 3+3.” Bonner grew up in Wichita, where his dad practiced law and his mom taught school.

In addition to serving as a U.S. District Judge, Bonner’s government service includes heading several federal agencies. A week after 9/11, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service. In 2003, he became the first commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is the Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for managing and securing U.S. borders. From 1990 to 1993, he was administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

In private practice, Bonner was active in a wide array of civil litigation matters, ranging from commercial and contract disputes to antitrust, securities, construction, intellectual property and environment litigation. He is a retired partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, an international law firm based in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. He has also been principal of the Sentinel HS Group, a Washington-based homeland security consulting firm.

Bonner’s far-ranging, long-standing legal career speaks eloquently to his deep understanding of the importance of supporting students interested in getting a legal education, an undertaking that might seem quite complex to some. When asked why he set up the Robert C. Bonner Legal Education Scholarship, he says:

“It’s pretty simple. I got a lot from WSU where I started college, including a tuition scholarship that was financially important to me and my family. I decided it was time for me to give something back and help a student who might need some help.”