W&M Featured Events
[PAST EVENT] Christian Lawyer Speaker Series: Nate Bruno
Join the Christian Legal Society in welcoming Nate Bruno, Alliance Defending Freedom's Senior Counsel and Vice President of Blackstone Alumni Services. He will be sharing with us about the way his legal career has intertwined with his spiritual journey with the Lord. Students will have opportunity to ask questions about Mr. Bruno's life path and career choices.
Nathaniel (Nate) Bruno serves as senior counsel and vice president of Blackstone alumni services with Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, Bruno coordinates efforts to provide law students and attorneys who are commissioned as Fellows through the ADF Blackstone Legal Fellowship with opportunities to participate meaningfully in strategic legal cases and projects that aim to protect and advance religious freedom, and professional development services that help facilitate their career training and advancement.
Prior to joining ADF in January 2016, Bruno was a partner at the international law firm of Sheppard Mullin LLP, where he practiced intellectual property litigation and was co-leader of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group that consisted of more than 70 attorneys. He achieved numerous excellent results for clients through trial, motion practice, alternative dispute resolution, and effective negotiation, with a focus on proactively helping companies protect their inventions, brands, creative content, and strategic business advantages. Bruno also served for many years on his prior firm’s Pro Bono Committee and led numerous efforts to provide access to justice for people who weren’t able to pay for counsel. His pro bono services included successfully suing a criminal pimp in a groundbreaking lawsuit under California’s civil human trafficking prevention statute, and personally handling or supervising more than 30 adoptions of children out of the Los Angeles County foster care system.
Bruno received his Juris Doctor magna cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2003. He was commissioned as an ADF Blackstone Fellow during law school in 2001. Bruno earned his B.A. in Political Science and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000, where he graduated with high distinction. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, Virginia, and California and is admitted to practice in numerous federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.