Natalie Rea founded the ILF in 2001 and served as its executive director until 2012, when she joined the Board. She has been a staff attorney in the Criminal Appeals Bureau of The Legal Aid Society for 25 years, where she has argued hundreds of cases in New York’s state and federal courts. Before joining The Legal Aid Society, she clerked for the Honorable Thomas C. Platt in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and worked at the law firm of Sherman & Sterling in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles. Born in New York and raised in France, Ms. Rea graduated from the Université d’Aix-Marseille and Fordham University School of Law. She is also the founder of Legal Aid-Rwanda.