Natalie L. Bridgeman
Independent Consulting Attorney
Natalie L. Bridgeman is an independent consulting attorney based in San Francisco, California.
Ms. Bridgeman’s work emphasizes litigating international environmental and human rights violations, and work toward accountability in international finance and development. Ms. Bridgeman is currently serving as a Consultant to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the 2008 Review of their Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM).
Ms. Bridgeman developed the Accountability Resource Guide, a training manual regarding use of the international financial institution and export credit agency accountability mechanisms, the OECD National Contact Point process, and a U.S. federal law called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). The Guide is available in English, Hindi and Telugu.* Ms. Bridgeman developed the Guide with funding from Robert G. Kerrigan, Esq.
Ms. Bridgeman graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Government and a Concentration in International Relations. She received her law degree from UCLA School of Law's Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and is a member of the State Bar of California.
Ms. Bridgeman interned at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in 1998 where she first worked on IFI accountability. As a Consultant to the World Bank Inspection Panel in 2000, she worked on a claim alleging improper World Bank support for mining activities in the Cotacachi-Cayapas region of Ecuador. In 2001, Ms. Bridgeman served as a law clerk to a NAFTA Arbiter and assisted in drafting the opinion in a §1904 US-Mexico steel anti-dumping case. Ms. Bridgeman has lectured on World Bank accountability and use of U.S. courts to litigate human rights and environmental claims under the ATCA both domestically and internationally.
Ms. Bridgeman litigated commercial and securities cases at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) from 2002 to 2006. Working pro bono at WSGR, she was part of the Cabello v. Fernández-Larios team that successfully sued Pinochet-era lieutenant Armando Fernández-Larios in U.S. federal court under the ATCA for crimes against humanity, torture and extrajudicial killing. The Cabello case was the first to render a jury verdict on a crimes against humanity claim in a U.S. court. Also at WSGR, Ms. Bridgeman headed the firm's pro bono asylum program and represented refugees seeking asylum in the United States -- both of Ms. Bridgeman’s mentally disabled clients received asylum in the U.S. after Immigration Court trials.
Ms. Bridgeman’s publications include “Narrowing the Accountability Gap: Toward a New Foreign Investor Accountability Mechanism” (co-author with David Hunter, forthcoming in the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 2008); “Human Rights Litigation Under the ATCA as a Proxy for Environmental Claims” (Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 2003); and “World Bank Reform in the ‘Post-Policy’ Era” (Georgetown International Environmental Law Review 2001 and First Place Winner of the 2002 Roscoe Hogan Environmental Law Essay Contest). She is the co-author with Kal Raustiala of the second edition chapter of “Nonstate Actors in the Global Climate Regime” in the edited volume International Relations of Global Climate Change (forthcoming MIT Press 2008).
Ms. Bridgeman is proficient in Spanish and conversant in German.
Contact Information:
Natalie L. Bridgeman, Esq.
Independent Consulting Attorney
131 Steuart Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94105
USA office: 415.979.0150
fax: 415.520.0140
skype: natalie_bridgeman
email: natalie@ihrlaw.com
*Materials on this website have been prepared by Natalie Bridgeman for informational purposes only and do not constitute advertising, a solicitation, or legal advice. Transmission of the materials and information contained herein is not intended to create, and receipt thereof does not constitute formation of, an attorney-client relationship.