Fields

Stopping a huge hydroelectric dam project that would have contaminated the drinking water of three Mexican villages might seem an overwhelming task. But for Natalie Bridgeman Fields '99, it's all in a day's work. Thanks to Accountability Counsel, the nonprofit Fields founded to defend the environmental and human rights of communities around the world, the fate of the Cerro de Oro Hydroelectric Project was handed over to the villagers, who stopped construction.

Fields will discuss how the world is changing for victims of human rights and environmental abuses and why innovative strategies are required Thursday, April 11, at 5 p.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall's Lewis Auditorium as this year's Munschauer Career Series lecturer. The talk is free and open to the public.

While avenues to justice are often limited, Accountability Counsel's approach is opening doors to new solutions. Fields' work in Papua New Guinea prompted the World Bank to acknowledge violations of its own policies and redesign an economically and environmentally damaging palm oil project. Accountability Counsel is also working with communities to protect the Peruvian Amazon and on projects in Panama, India, Mongolia, Kenya and Russia.

Before founding Accountability Counsel in 2009, where she serves as executive director, Fields worked as a lawyer, then served as part of the team that successfully sued a Pinochet-era lieutenant in the first U.S. court case to render a jury verdict on a crimes against humanity claim.

Fields has also served as a consultant on accountability to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and litigated corporate, human rights and environmental cases in her private practice.

At Cornell, Fields received the prestigious Udall National Environmental Policy Fellowship, as well as the Class of '64 JFK Memorial Award for public service. She majored in government with a concentration in international relations and says her liberal arts education gave her a wide breadth of knowledge about how different people in different disciplines think -- knowledge crucial to the success of Accountability Counsel.

Fields has received national recognition for her work, including the Michael Schwerner National Activist Award and Elle magazine's Genius Award. In 2011 she was named by the Daily Journal as one of the top 20 lawyers in California under age 40. In 2009, Fields was recognized internationally as one of 14 Echoing Green Fellows for her groundbreaking social entrepreneurship.

Fields 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. She lectures widely at law schools, universities and in training programs on international law, international financial institution accountability, and use of U.S. courts to litigate human rights and environmental claims.

The Munschauer Career Series, endowed by the former director of the Cornell University Career Center, John Munschauer, brings graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences to campus to benefit current students' career education.

Linda B. Glaser is staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.