NWA Profile: Attorney Bonnie Bridges both tough and fair

Tough attorney seeks to be fair

NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER "Over the years, Bonnie has proven, time and time again, that when you ask for her help, she's going to come through and get the job done. That, mixed with a big dose of compassion for the people she deals with -- particularly the victims -- makes her particularly valuable." -- Hayes Minor
NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER "Over the years, Bonnie has proven, time and time again, that when you ask for her help, she's going to come through and get the job done. That, mixed with a big dose of compassion for the people she deals with -- particularly the victims -- makes her particularly valuable." -- Hayes Minor

Those that knew Bonnie Bridges in high school don't sound surprised that the hard-working student ended up pursuing a career as a lawyer. As a testament to the hometown feeling of Rogers, several of the teachers she had as a young adult are now people she works with on a daily basis as staff attorney for the city. Small world, isn't it?

"It's funny, coming back to Rogers as an adult, because one of our city council members was actually my vice principal in high school, and our director of the Parks and Recreation Department was my psychology teacher and drivers' ed teacher in high school," says Bridges with a smile. Her height and hair color -- a lustrous red -- are striking features that easily make her stand out in a crowd. "It's strange to transition into adult roles with people that you knew when you were a child, but it's good to be back and to work with people that you've known for so long and who have known you."

Self Portrait

Bonnie Bridges

The book I’ve been recommending lately is “Breakfast of Champions”. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

My favorite place on earth is anywhere in or on the water.

I’m at my best when I’m busy with a purpose

If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s to always be prepared!

A really good piece of advice I received was you can never be too careful

If I had the power to change one thing in the world, it would be — that’s hard…I would change how people relate to and understand emotions in others. I’d give everyone a little more empathy.

The best decision I ever made was deciding I wanted to be a parent

My greatest strength is my compassion and determination. I think they go hand in hand.

My greatest shortcoming is my fear of disappointing others.

My pet peeve is slow drivers in the left lane. This seriously drives me crazy.

One phrase to sum me up — I asked my “mom tribe” about this. It’s hard to come up with a word to summarize yourself. They decided that I am loyal and dependable.

I know I’ve helped someone when when I can see some of the weight or responsibilities they are carrying lifted.

Next Week

Cam Patterson

Little Rock

"I've known her since she was 17, a high school junior or senior," says Circuit Court Judge Doug Schrantz. "She participated in the mock trial competition at Rogers High School, and I was a coach, along with her high school teacher Brenda Patton. I did that for a number of years, and she was one of the students that I recall. She had a maturity about her that you saw even when she was a teenager."

"She was fortunate to have great parents, but you could tell that even as young kid she stood out -- [literally] stood out, [because] she was always tall and thin, but she was just a real 'grown up' kid forever," says Rogers Parks and Recreation Director Jim White, who was also Bridges' teacher in high school. "She was a top-notch student all the way through school. She was definitely one of those kids where 'the light bulb came on real fast.' Bonnie always acted a bit more adult than most kids. She still smiled and had a good time, but she was very mature. ...When I heard from her mom that was she was in law school, I certainly was not a bit surprised."

"I think I was a great student," says the refreshingly straightforward Bridges about her high school days. "I think a lot of my teachers would probably agree with me. [Maybe I was] a little bit of a headstrong student. I'm opinionated. I definitely have opinions about things. I'm not afraid to ask questions -- a lot more back then! I think my temperament has probably mellowed a little bit now. But I was not afraid to jump in to lead or try and change something that I didn't agree with."

A life in the law

Born in Clarksville, Bridges and her family moved to Northwest Arkansas for her father's job when she was a toddler. By the time she graduated high school, she thought she might be over the desire to enter the legal field. Instead, she studied psychology at Arkansas Tech University, where she was the recipient of both an academic and a band scholarship. She's never regretted that choice, she says; her studies in psychology have come in handy every step of the way in her legal career.

"It's been extremely beneficial to have that background," she says. "Not only in learning about myself and how I want to interact with people in the different hats that I wear within the legal field, but also because working here at the city, we do so many different things with the law. What role we're in really determines how we need to interact with somebody -- whether I'm prosecuting them or trying to negotiate a contract with them or trying to change city policies with our HR department."

Things moved fast once Bridges was in college: She finished her undergraduate studies in just three years, headed to Tulsa, Okla., for law school and got married a week after graduation. She returned to Rogers to begin her career -- an internship in criminal law had piqued her interest in that field.

"I didn't want to do a corporate job," she says. "I didn't ever apply to Walmart or J.B. Hunt or Tyson or anything like that. I just started sending resumes out to smaller law firms, because I wanted to be able to do what I wanted to do. I got several very nice rejection letters."

How she ended up landing her first job as an attorney is another testament to the small world of Rogers.

"It's a funny story," she says with a smile. "It's a strange story. My mom and stepdad have bees, and there's a local attorney in Rogers who has been here forever named Jim Lingle. He had a beehive in his house, or knew a friend that had a beehive. Somehow, he got connected with my parents. My mom and stepdad went out and were taking the beehive down for him and mentioned that I was an attorney looking for a job. He said, 'Well, have her come on in.' So I interviewed with him and worked for him for two years."

Bridges says Lingle was supportive of her working in areas of the law that most interested her, so she focused on criminal defense.

"I like to feel like what I'm doing has an effect on people, and people that get arrested for crimes rely on their defense attorney a lot -- you really have an opportunity to, hopefully, mold them or send them on a different path or give them some pointers or some helpful tips. I liked that. I liked being able to connect with people and feel like what I was doing mattered."

She would find herself on the other side of cases in 2007, when she was recruited to join the Benton County Prosecutor's Office.

"It wasn't as different as I thought it would be," she says. "The law is the law, the Constitution is the Constitution, and the search and seizure rules are the same -- you're just applying them on a different side. I'm looking at them to make sure that our reports are right and that the affidavits for the warrant that we're approving are meeting legal standard. I was able to quickly transition into a role where I prosecuted all of the child sexual abuse cases [in the county]. And so I got to still have that fulfillment for interacting with people and feeling like my job and what I did mattered."

A child's best interest

Despite the intensity of that particular assignment, Bridges received high marks from her colleagues and peers for her work.

"I followed her career a bit in the county as I have several attorney friends, and everyone was so complimentary of her work as a prosecutor," notes White. "She was well known for her advocacy and fairness."

"She is a very tough individual, particularly in dealing with the things she has dealt with at the prosecuting attorney's office," says Rogers Chief of Police Hayes Minor. "From my perspective and personal experience, it's the most difficult and heart-wrenching type of crime to investigate, and to do that full time, I think, takes a special individual. In discussions I've had with Bonnie, I think what fueled her was knowing she was getting justice for the victims and doing her best to right terrible wrongs."

"During Bonnie's time at the prosecutor's office, she was housed at the Children's Advocacy Center where we saw first-hand in her what it truly means to put the best interest of the child first," says Erin Kraner, director of clinical services at the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County. "She is proactive in problem-solving, never shies away from accountability and leans in to critical conversations, all for the betterment of the children in our community who are suffering. In short, Bonnie consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty. It would be easy to check the boxes, call a case, dismiss it when issues get in the way and move on to the next. But not Bonnie -- she works with her teams to ensure all aspects of the case are set up for success in order for a victim to have the best possible chance for justice. ... She doesn't take her responsibility lightly, and acts on the behalf of children in the way she would want someone to act if it were her own child.

"Because of this, all public service agencies love working with her -- because with Bonnie you'll get grit, someone whose not afraid to take a risk, and who lays it all on the line. Because at the end of the day when that child grows up and looks back, she wants them to be able to see someone who did everything in their power to fight for them. And Bonnie always does just that. She cultivates a culture of action."

Still, says Bridges, there was a time limit on how long she was going to be able to continue processing the horrifying stories she was hearing on a daily basis.

"You can say that you know what it's going to be like, and you can say that you're going to be prepared for it, or that it won't affect you, but you really don't know until you get in it," she notes. "And I had my first child while I was the sex crime prosecutor, while I was working all those cases. For me, [that] put things into a much different kind of perspective. It did wear on me after a while. The Benton County Prosecutor's Office is very good about realizing that in advance and not forcing anyone to stay in that role. 'Is this still something that you want to do? Have you gotten burned out yet?' Because that's such an important role -- they really need to have someone there who is effective."

Different every day

After six years with the prosecutor's office, it was time for her to move on to one of two city attorney positions with the city of Rogers. For someone who values lifelong learning and variety in her workday, Bridges says, her current job is nearly perfect.

"I was interested at that point in time in learning something new," she says. "I wanted to learn about municipal law and kind of brush the dust off the civil stuff that I had done such a long time ago when I worked with Jim [Lingle]. We just deal with such a wide variety of things -- it's not every day that there's something new, but there's definitely something that will come up once every month or two months that John -- the other staff attorney -- and I will say, 'Have you ever dealt with this? I've never dealt with this.' It gives you a chance to break into something that you didn't know about before."

"I think she's very determined to do the right thing and get the job done correctly," says Minor when asked about Bridges' strength in her current position. "That is definitely a plus, just knowing the tendency of people to get comfortable in their positions, and that goes for any situation, not just the legal community. Over the years, Bonnie has proven, time and time again, that when you ask for her help, she's going to come through and get the job done. That, mixed with a big dose of compassion for the people she deals with -- particularly the victims -- makes her particularly valuable."

"She speaks up passionately for children and adults who have been victims of domestic violence, has been a consistent city attorney presence in the multi-disciplinary team response to child abuse in Benton County and has pursued training for her staff to make the city of Rogers' courtroom more trauma-informed," says Kraner.

Bridges can demonstrate the ever-changing nature of her job by running through a typical week's schedule.

"One of the biggest time obligations for John and me is Rogers' District Court. We still prosecute and handle all of the misdemeanor traffic offenses that happen in Rogers, so every week, we're dealing with something in court. We're trying to answer emails from attorneys. We're approving probable cause affidavits. We have planning commission and city council [meetings] -- one is every other Tuesday, so we're always trying to get ready for that and making sure that we have ordinances and resolutions ready. With the Planning Commission, we're making sure that if there are any questions about rezones, lot splits, things like that, that we know enough about it so that we can answer any questions. We have a lot of contracts that come in for review. And then you always get a little odd thing, like someone at the airport trying to lease one hangar to somebody else and whether that's been done correctly or an issue with the Rogers Water Utility trying to re-format how they do permits. A lot of it is knowing where to look for the answer, because there's no way you will ever know the answer for everything that comes up. Municipal laws are a changing beast, and every time [there is a] legislative session, it feels as though they're updating or changing something that affects us.

"Really, it's knowing enough to know where to look, and then, knowing enough to know when you don't know, you need to ask someone who does know."

With a slate of so many varying tasks on her schedule, Bridges deals with a lot of different people in a range of situations -- some of them, less than pleasant. Once again, Bridges says, she finds her studies in psychology coming in handy.

"I think it's really important how you deliver bad news," she says frankly. "A lot of people understand. Most of the people that I've come into contact with that are upset, they just want somebody to know that they're upset. They want to be able to express that they're upset. And if you can listen to that, and you can explain calmly why you couldn't do what they wanted -- why you couldn't do it for anybody, that it's not them -- [you can say] 'I heard you, and I understand, I just can't do anything about it and I'm sorry.'"

Bridges has a child entering third grade this year, is active in his school activities and also serves as the committee chairwoman for the Pack 5 Cub Scout troop. It's a busy time for her -- too busy, she says, to consider running for office in the near future, but she also doesn't completely rule it out. With her background and sense of determination, it's easy to see her in a position as an elected official.

"I think about it," she admits, and adds, with a laugh, "A lot of people think about it for me. But I have seen what it takes to run a political campaign, and it's a lot. It's a lot that I don't know that I want to do. I would be interested in being a judge. That is something that I would like to do. I don't know that it's anything I would like to do anytime soon. And I would really have to develop the stomach for just running a political campaign."

If she does develop a taste for politics, it's a sure bet she'll enter the fray with an eye toward advocacy -- that's been a part of her career goals from the get-go.

"Bonnie embodies a true public servant with a heart for the underserved, misrepresented and oppressed," says Kraner. "She truly believes in giving a voice to those who have been victimized, and feels it is her duty with the responsibility she has been given to fight for what is in their best interest, regardless of how it impacts her professionally. She is fearless. Oftentimes in serving others, the decisions to be made and steps to be taken are hard, messy, not always the popular vote and situations you aren't likely to win because the odds are so stacked against you -- but those things do not matter to her. She steps up every time and stands in the gap for those who are hurting because it is the right thing to do."

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER "I like to feel like what I'm doing has an effect on people. ...I liked being able to connect with people and feel like what I was doing mattered," says Bonnie Bridges of her career thus far.

NAN Profiles on 08/18/2019

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