Nathalina A. Hudson

How Nathalina Helps Clients

With more than 20 years of criminal and civil litigation experience, Nathalina is adept at conducting large-scale white collar crime investigations, cybersecurity management, incident response and recovery, internal investigations, and trials and settlement conferences in state and federal court. Recognized for exemplary ethics and influence, she has a proven track record in overcoming challenges and delivering tangible results.

Prior to joining Buchanan, Nathalina served as Chief of Staff for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Through this experience, Nathalina developed relationships in the state attorney general community and a deep understanding of how to guide clients through state attorney generals multi-state investigations and settlements, criminal investigations and civil consumer fraud investigations. During her tenure, she led several critical operational units: Cybersecurity Steering Committee, Human Resources, Media Relations, Internal Auditing, Fiscal and Accounting divisions, Office Services, Strategic Communications, Information Technology, and Information Security. She also led the creation of the AG statewide Opioid taskforce, Organized Retail crime taskforce, AG Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the partnership with the Secret Service to prevent mass shootings in schools and places of worship.

Notably, after the office fell victim to a ransomware attack, she led efforts to fortify the Attorney General Office’s cybersecurity infrastructure, through training, implementation of enhanced cyber-security and IT policies, data classification, risk assessments, third party-vendor risk assessments and vulnerability management procedures, and by establishing a Cybersecurity team to include: Chief information Security Officer, Chief Privacy Officer and Chief Technology Officer. She also oversaw the development of a state-of-the-art cybersecurity operations center. Additionally, drawing on lessons learned from the ransomware attack and leveraging her law enforcement relationships, she provided guidance and training to other state attorney general offices, state and local agencies, non-profits and businesses in the private sector to help them to minimize the impact of a cyberattack in their respective organizations.

She also previously served as Deputy Attorney General, Criminal Enforcement Division where she led the development and execution of strategic enforcement initiatives, ensuring timely and effective prosecution of high-priority cases across multiple complex areas of law. She directed six criminal enforcement bureaus, overseeing specialized teams in Medicaid fraud, special prosecutions and complex fraud, statewide grand jury, criminal trials, high-tech crimes, and the sexually violent persons division.

As a former federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois, she has experience with a variety of complex criminal investigations including health care fraud, home health care fraud, Medicaid Fraud, anti-kickback investigations, fraud related to internal business accounting, tax fraud, money-laundering, human trafficking, identity theft, mortgage fraud, international drug trafficking and public corruption. Additionally, she has tried over a dozen federal criminal jury trials and briefed and argued several cases in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She also has extensive experience working with state and federal law enforcement agencies and government regulatory agencies, such as FBI, Secret Service, HHS-OIG, DEA, OCTDEF Taskforce, FDA, IRS, ISP, and CPD, which has provided her with a nuanced understanding of regulatory landscapes, compliance issues and public policy that impacts clients across many industries.

She also gained significant civil litigation experience while representing the Chicago Police Department in Section 1983 cases in state and federal court as an assistant corporation counsel, and serving as a law clerk to the Hon. William Terrel Hodges in the Middle District of Florida, Ocala division.

What Clients Can Expect

Having led a state-wide agency through a cyber-attack, she brings a unique insight to advising clients during a cyber-attack and helping them to rebuild a secure environment following an attack. She understands the importance of helping clients mitigate the risks of an attack wherever they are in their cybersecurity journey. She also understands first-hand the financial constraints and external reputational risks that organizations face during an attack and in the aftermath. Clients can expect her to meet them where they are and recognize that a one size fits all cyber-recovery strategy does not fit every organization.

Nathalina also leverages her state and federal experience to help clients navigate complex regulatory frameworks and compliance issues that may impact their industry. Her intimate understanding of government provides her clients with a deeper understanding of the issues. She is a diligent partner in building strategies that help clients reach their objectives.

Outside the Office

In her free time, Nathalina enjoys jazz dance classes, yoga, volunteering in the community, trying new recipes, mentoring lawyers and law students, and spending time with friends and family.

Awards and Recognitions

• Earl B. Dickerson Award, Chicago Bar Association (2025)
• Vanguard Award Recipient, Chicago Bar Association (2024)
• Siris Investigation of the Year Award, National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, 2018
• Chicago Law Bulletin’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in the Chicago Area, 2007
• President’s Award for Exceptional Service, Black Women Lawyers' Association, 2005