Catherine Elizabeth van Kampen, Esq.

Catherine has extensive experience in complex financial fraud and securities litigation and litigation management. Fluent in Dutch, she has served as the lead investigator and led discovery efforts in actions involving international corporations and financial institutions headquartered in Belgium and the Netherlands. Catherine's great passion working in the law is also her pro bono work, which allows her to serve as a champion of social change and justice, particularly for immigrant and refugee women and children. She has done pro bono work in this area for over twenty years. In 2020, as a member of the New City Bar Association’s United Nations Committee and African Affairs Committee, she spearheaded organizing the highly successful and widely-praised New York City Bar’s International Law Conference on the Status of Women, Pro Bono Engagement Fair and EPIQ Women Awards and Huntington Her Hero Awards, featuring the Under Secretary and Special Representative to the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and other prominent, progressive women’s advocates from the New York Legal Community.

A committed humanitarian, Catherine was honored as the 2018 Ambassador Medalist at the New Jersey Governor’s Jefferson Awards for Outstanding Public Service for her international humanitarian and pro bono work with refugees. The Jefferson Awards, issued by the Jefferson Awards Foundation that was founded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, are awarded by state governors and are considered America’s highest honor for public service bestowed by the United States Senate. Catherine was also honored in Princeton, New Jersey by her high school alma mater, Stuart Country Day School, in its 2018 Distinguished Alumnae Gallery for her humanitarian and pro bono efforts on behalf of women and children afflicted by war in Iraq and Syria.

Catherine is an active member of the American Bar Association, New York Bar Association, New York City Bar Association, New Jersey Bar Association and the National Association of Women Lawyers. As part of her pro bono legal work, she serves on two Boards of international NGOs serving refugees and vulnerable women and girls in the world's hottest conflict zones. Catherine is a Board member of the Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation and the Free a Girl Foundation. Both foundations are dedicated to supporting women and girls. The Bring Hope Humanitarian Foundation provides critically needed medical and humanitarian aid to women and girls living as refugees and internally displaced persons. The Free a Girl Foundation works to prevent the exploitation of women and girls and operates the School of Justice law program.

Catherine clerked for the Honorable Mary M. McVeigh in the Superior Court of New Jersey where she was also trained as a court-certified mediator. While in law school she was a legal intern at the Center for Social Justice - Immigration Law Clinic at Seton Hall University School of Law. Catherine is a graduate of the American Inns of Court. Catherine has worked with thousands of journalists in her prior career as a Public Relations executive to promote economic development. As a lawyer, she continues this work to address gender equality and social and economic justice.

Sub-specialities:
Ethic and religious violence
Sexual Terrorism
Genocide
Violence against Women and Girls in Conflict and War Zones
Violence against Female Immigrants, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
Violence Against Women and Girls