Natalie Bridgeman Fields ’99 is the founder and executive director of Accountability Counsel. She leads the organization of community-driven lawyers, policy advocates, and researchers working to amplify the voices of people around the world to defend their human rights and environment. She has taught law school courses and has been a lecturer and author topics of international environmental law, impact investing and accountability, development finance accountability, and international human rights law. Previously, she served as a consultant on accountability for two development banks. Earlier in her career, Natalie spent a decade litigating complex corporate, human rights, and environmental cases in U.S. courts, first as a lawyer at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and later through her own law office. At Wilson Sonsini, she was part of the team that litigated the first case to render a jury verdict on a crimes against humanity claim under the Alien Tort Claims Act. Natalie has been recognized by Echoing Green, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, as a SOCAP Social Entrepreneur, and was a Visiting Practitioner at Stanford Social Entrepreneur in Residence Program. A graduate of Cornell University, Natalie was the recipient of numerous national awards, including the Udall National Environmental Policy Fellowship and the Michael Schwerner National Activist Award. She received her law degree from UCLA School of Law’s Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, where she was editor-in-chief of the UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs. Natalie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.
The purpose of the $15,000 John F. Kennedy Memorial Award is to encourage student leaders to enter careers in government or other public service fields.
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