California Attorney General Rob Bonta will deliver the keynote address to the Class of 2023 at UCLA School of Law’s commencement ceremony on May 12.

A trailblazing Filipino American, Bonta was born in the Philippines and raised in California before attending Yale University, Oxford and Yale Law School. He returned to California to embark on a distinguished career as a lawyer and advocate, including as a litigator in private practice, as a deputy city attorney in San Francisco, and as an elected member of the Alameda City Council and then the California State Assembly.

In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Bonta as California’s attorney general after Xavier Becerra left that position to become the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Last November, he was elected to a full term in that office.

During the commencement ceremony, Bonta will offer students his perspectives on public service, thoughtful lawyering and impactful leadership – all of which are key values at UCLA Law, a public law school whose core mission includes service in the public interest.

Several other people will speak at the event, which celebrates this year’s graduates: 319 members of the law school’s J.D. (juris doctor) class, 227 members of the LL.M. (master of laws) class and 38 members of the M.L.S. (master of legal studies) class.

Student speakers include Amber Dean, on behalf of the J.D. graduates; Sannidhi Sharma, on behalf of the LL.M. graduates; and Kyna Collins on behalf of the M.L.S. graduates.

UCLA Law’s commencement ceremony will take place outdoors on the UCLA campus, on Dickson Court, at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 12. More information about the event can be found on the commencement website.