Bonnie M. Baker graduated summa cum laude in 1992 with a B.A. in European history from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar. In 1995, she received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as an Edit Team Member of the Yale Journal on Regulation and the Yale Journal of Law and Humanities. She received the 1994 Caskey Prize for Outstanding Presentation of a Case in the Barristers' Union Mock Trial Competition. After law school, Ms. Baker served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard Owen of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She is a member of the Nassau County Bar Association. She previously practiced at Orans, Elsen & Lupert LLP. Ms. Baker is also admitted to practice in Connecticut.

Ms. Baker also has served as Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at New York University School of Law, Adjunct Professor at The New School, and was an Executive Editor at Brownstone Publishers, Inc., where she researched, wrote, and edited articles relating to school district compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act.