Gilroy High School class of 1986 graduate Martina Vandenberg visited the chambers of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in June when she was recognized by the Truman Foundation for 20 years of work in human rights.
Once a student representative at the Gilroy Unified School District Board meetings, Vandenberg went on to work toward establishing a law that recognizes rape as a war crime.
Each year, the Truman Foundation gives an award to an attorney doing work in public service. This year, that attorney was Vandenberg.
“What inspired me to do this work is my clients,” said Vandenberg in a phone interview from San Francisco. “My clients are incredibly courageous and completely inspiring.”
Her interest in human rights started young, when Vandenberg became a volunteer for a Rape Crisis Hot Line while attending Pomona College at Claremont.
While studying Russian, she spent a summer in Moscow with family friends and learned the country had no support system for women who had been raped. She spent three years in Russia writing grants and establishing hot lines.
Later, Vandenberg moved to Bosnia where she worked for Human Rights Watch and helped establish a law recognizing rape as a war crime. As an attorney for Jenner and Block, a national law firm with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., she spent 13 years doing pro bono work with victims of human trafficking. Last year, she established the Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center in Washington D.C. because she wanted to do only pro bono work.
“I wanted to do all pro bono all the time,” explained Vandenberg, who has trained 900 lawyers to handle human trafficking pro bono cases.
Vandenberg will speak at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
