Sept. 25, 2024 – The University of Houston Law Center spotlighted the lives, legacies and historic contributions of five of its esteemed alumni at a Pioneer Celebration held last Friday. The event drew 75 people in person and more than 140 online attendees.

UH Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes moderated a fireside chat with trail blazing alumni including Tony Bonilla, Class of 1960, partner in Bonilla and Chapa, PC; Justice Ruby Kless Sondock, Class of 1962, retired Texas Supreme Court Justice; William Y. Sim, Class of 1969, founder of William Y. Sim, PC; Jim Lemond, Class of 1970, retired partner at Winstead, PC; and Judge Phyllis Randolph Frye, Class of 1981, retired associate judge, City of Houston Municipal Courts.

Baynes said of the pioneers, “You are living history! During the time that you were in law school and young lawyers, our nation dealt with the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Right Movement, the LGBTQ+ Movement, Worker’s Right Movement, Watergate,  and so much more. You were the first and had to handle being the first while our nation faced some major societal upheaval and change. You not only transcended limits and overcame obstacles, but you also charted a path forward for those who follow you. I am delighted that we were able to get you all together at one time.”

The conversation and ceremony were part of the rededication of the Royce and Carol West African American Law Heritage Wall of Honor and the Ezequiel Reyna Jr. and Livia Reyna Hispanic Law Heritage Wall of Honor, and the unveiling and dedication of the Judge Phyllis Randoph Frye LGBTQ+ Law Heritage Wall of Honor.

Each of the five pioneers represents boundaries broken and opportunities opened by simply doing what needed to be done at the time: moving forward to grow in their own careers as well as single-minded determination to reach their ultimate goals. By marking their own trail, each pioneer set a standard for others to follow.

Tony Bonilla was the first UH Law Center graduate of Hispanic descent and the second in his family to become a lawyer setting the stage for more than 22 other family across multiple generations becoming lawyers.

Growing up in a highly segregated small town in Texas, Bonilla eventually followed his older brother into studying law. Struggles and experiences with the discrimination he endured in his youth led him to become very active in civil rights not only in his community but across the nation. He became President of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), and he also played roles in the creation, and leadership, of other Latin American legal and support organizations.

His most memorable moment of his time at the Law Center?

“The one thing that I recall is walking in through the front doors of the library, walking downstairs, and being a captive of the law school,” garnering understanding laughter from the audience. “If you wanted to become a lawyer, you had to stay in that library and work. And that’s what I did.

“I had great professors and great students who embraced me,” Bonilla added.

As one of only five women in her 1962 graduating class, Justice Sondock broke barriers as the class valedictorian, then arguing her first case before the Texas Supreme Court in her first year of practice, and passing the bar exam before she completed her legal studies. She became the first woman to serve as Harris County district court judge in 1973, and then as the 234th District Court judge four years later. She was appointed for the regular session of the Texas Supreme Court in 1982, again garnering the honor as the first woman in such a role.

With a husband who did not want his wife to work, Sondock’s path to her legal roles took a slightly circuitous route.

“I was just going to get an education that was going to make me the best legal secretary in town,” she recalled. “Because those women are the ones who really make the money.”

Starting law school, “(…) It just happened. It was something I was going to do.”

After passing the bar, Sondock was offered a job interview.

Offered a full-time job with a firm, she declined. In what may have been one of the most unique negotiation sessions in employment history, Sondock talked herself down from full-time, to 40, to 30, down to 20 hours a week and eventually, with the encouragement to make a “sizeable contribution to the office,” her hours were hers to make.

“So, you see, somebody made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

A naturalized citizen, William Sim came to law after a stint in the military and a degree in pharmacy. Using his education and expertise in his career in the nation’s largest pharmaceutical company, Sim returned to school to pursue corporate and international law, fully intending to return to pharmaceuticals. He became the first Asian-American to graduate from the UH Law Center in 1969.

After earning his degree, marriage and family altered his career path, ultimately leading him to practice immigration and nationality law.

“I’m supposed to be a pioneer. That’s really by luck and coincidence,” he said. “I didn’t know I was going be a pioneer.

“This is my reward. I help people who come here to realize and achieve their American dream,” he added.

As UH Law Center’s first African American graduate in 1969, Jim Lemond also holds the enviable recognition as the first African American commissioned officer in the in the US Armed Forces from the university’s ROTC program.

From his role as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate during Vietnam, he moved on to eminent domain law for Harris County. His firm acted as the key component for the development of Houston’s many sports venues. His unwavering commitment to public service and his expertise led to being named a “Living Legend” by the Houston Lawyers Association, as well as a Legal Pioneer in the State of Texas by the State Bar of Texas.

“I never saw myself as a barrier breaker or a trailblazer. No such thing. I started college in 1960 and lived through the turbulent ‘60s the dean spoke of.”

His educational career began at Prairie View A&M University to study engineering because “I couldn’t go to the University of Texas or Texas A&M University. The only Black school I could attend was Prairie View.”

Following the transition of the University of Houston from a private to a public school, he applied following his junior year at Prairie View, remaining as an engineering student.

“I got a letter back from UH. It generally said, ‘(…) However, I need to let you know our school is not yet prepared to admit persons of your race to our fine university.’ That was 1962. I just went on with my engineering studies.”

In 1964, he learned UH was then accepting Black students, so he applied as a transfer student. In 1965, he became a student at UH.

“I set an objective and with the full and complete support of my wife, I said, ‘I know what the objective is, and this is what I need to do to reach that objective.’ I needed to finish law school. It was a challenge I set for myself.”

Judge Phyllis Frye, who graduated from UH Law in 1981, faced her obstacles and moved on to success during the era in which the LGBTQ+ community was still in the process of defining the movement and even personal identities. Through that experience and thereafter, Frye became the first transgender judge in the U.S. after being appointed to the Houston Municipal Court bench in 2010.

Transitioning in 1976, Frye leaned on lessons learned from her time as an Eagle Scout, a member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, a US Army veteran and as a licensed engineer to open doors and represent those members of the community under- or non-represented because of their orientation. She devoted her practice to both adult and minor transgender clients.

Frye has a special connection to another member of the honorees: Frye appeared before Justice Sondock in 1977 to have her name legally changed.

“I came to law school primarily because when I transitioned the engineering firms in town blackballed me, and I could not get work,” Frye recalled. “So, I decided to use my GI Bill and go back to school.”

In recalling her career highlights, Frye included pride in being “very inventive in the law in respect to trans people.”

“In the late ‘80s I (…) was petitioned by some trans people to take them through court to get their names changed. Within a couple of years, several came to me and said, ‘Well, you changed my name from Ralph to Susan but it still says ‘M’ on my driver’s license.’ I petitioned to change the gender marker on the driver’s license. I was very proud of being inventive that way,” she said.

When asked about what lessons they learned that could be conveyed to this generation, the pioneers spoke about the need to protect civil rights, to not get a law degree just to “make money,” but rather to serve clients and communities, and to continue open doors and pave new paths for those coming after.

Following the discussion among the honorees and a question-and-answer period from the in-person and remote audience, Dean Baynes introduced Stephen Benesh, partner in Bracewell, LLP, and current president of the State Bar of Texas.

Benesh opened his remarks with admiration to the honorees.

“What could I possibly add, really, to the legends we have heard from thus far? Think about it for a moment. You will tell people you sat in a room and heard a fireside chat from this law school’s first graduate of Hispanic descent, the first transgendered judge in the United States, this law school’s first African-American graduate and the first Asian-American graduate, and the first woman district judge in Harris County and the first woman to serve on the Texas Supreme Court (…). It’s remarkable to have that much insight. These legends deserve a standing ovation.”

Benesh expanded on the concept of trailblazers, of whom he likened to the five graduates.

By marking the trail, it’s not for the “person who can see you and walk behind you. It’s for those who come and feel like they’re alone. When they see that mark, they realize someone did it, so can I.”

2024 UHLC Heritage Walls

After the pioneer event, UH Law Center held a rededication of the Royce (J.D. ‘79) and Carol West African American Law Heritage Wall of Honor and Ezequiel Reyna Jr. (J.D. ’80) and Livia Reyna (M.Ed. ’79) Hispanic Law Heritage Wall of Honor. Newly inducted honorees to the African American Heritage Walls were Professors Anthony (Tony) Chase and Ronald Turner. UHLC also recognized the contributions of Judge Josefina Rendón (‘76) and Sofia Winograd (‘25) who were added to the Hispanic Heritage Wall.

 UH Law Center also unveiled and dedicated the Judge Phyllis Randolph Frye (J.D. ’81) LGBTQ+ Law Heritage Wall of Honor.

Watch the 2024 Heritage Walls video here.