Martina E. Vandenberg is a partner in Jenner & Block’s Litigation Department and a member of the Complex Commercial Litigation and Media and First Amendment Practices. She is a member of Jenner & Block’s Pro Bono Committee.
Ms. Vandenberg has established an extensive pro bono practice, representing victims of human trafficking and providing legal advice to institutions seeking to combat this human rights scourge. In 2007, she led a trial team to victory in a federal civil suit brought under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. In 2008, Ms. Vandenberg led a legal team filing a RICO civil suit against two defendants convicted of trafficking. Ms. Vandenberg was honored with the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Pro Bono Award for her work representing human trafficking victims and for her legislative advocacy efforts to combat human trafficking.
Ms. Vandenberg’s litigation practice includes representation of clients bringing First Amendment challenges to federal statutes and regulations. She served on the litigation team challenging the U.S. Agency for International Development's "pledge" requirement in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Vandenberg handles complex commercial disputes for major corporations, focusing most recently on a $2 billion accounting malpractice claim against a Big 4 firm. She has substantial experience conducting internal corporate investigations, including investigations into Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, qui tam matters, and fraud. Ms. Vandenberg routinely counsels clients on pre-trial discovery issues.
Ms. Vandenberg advises corporations on compliance with federal regulations against human trafficking, with a focus on the development of anti-trafficking training programs and policies. Ms. Vandenberg has testified on human trafficking before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, the House Armed Services Committee, the Helsinki Commission, and at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Prior to joining the Firm in 2003, Ms. Vandenberg investigated war crimes, the trafficking of women for forced prostitution, and other violence against women as a Human Rights Watch researcher. In her five years with Human Rights Watch, she conducted extensive research in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Russian Federation, Uzbekistan and Kosovo, and was the principal author of two Human Rights Watch reports. She has spoken nationally and internationally on human rights and humanitarian law.
Ms. Vandenberg also worked as a researcher for the Israel Women’s Network in Jerusalem, where she investigated the trafficking of women from the former Soviet Union to Israel. From 1993 to 1996, she lived in Russia, where she co-founded one of Russia’s first crisis centers for women and also coordinated a grants project and women’s leadership training program in Russia and Ukraine for the NIS-US Women’s Consortium, a coalition of regional women’s organizations.
