Meet President-Elect Candidate Brad Bondi
March 11, 2025
The D.C. Bar’s 2025 general and Communities elections will run from April 15 to June 4. Eligible voters will receive an email link to their ballots via Survey & Ballot Systems, an independent vendor administering the elections. Results of the elections will be announced on the Bar’s website and during the 2025 Celebration of Leadership on June 26.
Here, get to know Brad Bondi, one of two candidates running for D.C. Bar president-elect for the 2025–2026 term. The president-elect serves for one year before becoming president and then continues in office a third year as immediate past president.
Brad Bondi, global co-chair of the investigations and white-collar defense practice at Paul Hastings, LLP, intends to strengthen participation in the D.C. Bar and leverage technology to improve services for members if given the opportunity to serve as president-elect of the Bar.
“If elected, I will work to bring together the various communities within the Bar and promote unity and inclusion. I intend to expand the CLE programs that are offered to Bar members and promote greater pro bono participation,” he said.
Bondi plans to increase the availability of online, on-demand CLE for D.C. Bar members. He notes that members are commonly licensed in other jurisdictions that have a CLE requirement, making on-demand access to training valuable. “Building on my two elected terms in D.C. Bar Communities leadership, I intend to expand the availability of free, online, on-demand CLE courses for D.C. Bar members for all states requiring CLE,” Bondi said. He also envisions providing a greater number of CLE courses free of charge to members, and with a significantly broader range of programming.
If elected, Bondi said he would also like to improve the process for obtaining certificates of good standing. “We shouldn’t charge members for certificates of good standing,” he said, emphasizing that it is important for members to be able to obtain these certificates online and instantly.
Another improvement Bondi proposes is boosting the visibility of the Bar’s ethics hotline. He also would make online ethics resources easier to access, improving the searchability of ethics opinions and guidance documents.
Bondi has been active in the D.C. Bar Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Community, serving as an elected steering committee member for two terms starting in 2002 and in 2019, as well as a nominating chair, outreach coordinator, and Lawyer to Lawyer coordinator.
Bondi has served in leadership roles on the boards of nonpartisan organizations such as the Atlantic Council, Piedmont Environment Council, and Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.
Bondi said he is focused on ensuring the D.C. Bar stays nonpartisan. “The D.C. Bar is not, and must not become, a political organization,” Bondi said. “I will fight vigorously against any attempts externally or internally to change that. The D.C. Bar should continue its role as a nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization committed to the service of its members.”
Bondi has two decades of experience representing and counseling companies, boards of directors, and individuals in a broad range of investigations and complex business litigation, with an emphasis on securities and financial regulation and corporate governance matters. He previously held positions in government, including at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bondi has also taught spring semesters at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School since 2008 and fall semesters at Georgetown University Law Center since 2009. “I come from private practice, from government, from academia,” Bondi said. “I see lawyers of all ages, of all ethnicities, of all backgrounds, and I’ve served a broad array of clients — from public companies to individual pro bono clients. I believe in uniting all of our various practices, communities, and beliefs under one roof with the common goal of bettering our profession.”
“I decided to run for D.C. Bar president last spring because of my love for the legal profession and my belief that our work as lawyers is a foundational piece of the American society,” Bondi said. “As a young lawyer, I remember attending D.C. Bar programs. I got involved in pro bono, and the D.C. Bar has given me so many opportunities to succeed, and to thrive, and to feel a part of a community. I want to ensure that the next generation of lawyers can access the same opportunities I did as a young lawyer to grow their careers, to network with other lawyers, to serve their clients, and to be involved in their communities.”
In 2019 he endowed the Bradley J. Bondi Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship Fund at the University of Florida Levin College of Law for law students with a demonstrated commitment to advancing the causes of diversity and inclusion. In 2024 he funded the Traci Grieshaber Zeller ’99 Memorial Award at the University of Virginia in memory of his recently deceased friend and colleague.
Bondi has been married for nearly 20 years and has five children, including two adopted sons.
He is a graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he earned a JD with high honors. He continued his education at Georgetown University Law Center, earning his LLM in securities and financial regulation with distinction. Following law school, Bondi served as a law clerk to Judge Edward Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
