Tamara Morgenthau

Senior Attorney

Tamara Morgenthau (she/her) is a Senior Attorney with CIEL’s Climate and Energy Program. Tamara’s work focuses on protecting human rights in the context of the climate crisis by developing and supporting legal and advocacy strategies related to climate litigation and accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.

Tamara has worked with individuals and communities around the world to support their pursuit for justice, accountability, and protection of their human rights. In doing so, she has litigated and supported cases before domestic courts and regional and international human rights bodies.

Prior to joining CIEL, Tamara was a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the International Human Rights Law Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law. At the clinic, Tamara supervised a range of projects including preparing a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of a torture survivor seeking redress and accountability; supporting the legal strategies of Indigenous communities displaced by agro-industrial projects in Liberia; and advocacy before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Prior to that, Tamara was a Bertha Legal Fellow with EarthRights International. At EarthRights, she worked on litigation as well as other strategies to support communities and individuals defending their human rights and their environment and promote corporate accountability.

Tamara began her legal career as an immigration and refugee lawyer at Waldman & Associates in Toronto. Tamara has represented public interest groups in interventions before appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Canada. Tamara also clerked for the Federal Court of Canada.

Tamara holds a J.D. from the University of Ottawa, an LL.M. from NYU School of Law, M.A. (International Affairs) from Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and a B.A. in Political Science and Media Information and Technoculture from the University of Western Ontario.

Tamara is a member of the State Bar of New York* and admitted to practice law in Ontario.

*Tamara is not currently admitted to the District of Columbia Bar.