Hudson is an assistant attorney general in the criminal appeals division of the Minnesota Attorney General's office, a position she has held since 1997.  From 1994 to 1997, she was in the health licensing division of the Attorney General's office.  Hudson was the St. Paul City Attorney from 1992 to 1994, assistant dean of student affairs at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul from 1989 to 1992, an associate attorney in employment law and general civil litigation at the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi in Minneapolis from 1986 to 1988, and a staff attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Inc. in St. Paul from 1982 to 1986.  Hudson earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1982 and her bachelor of arts degree from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona in 1979.

"Natalie's practice of law has taken her from representing the poor, then corporate clients, then directing academic programs at Hamline law school, then the chief legal officer for the city of St. Paul to now handling criminal appeals for the state of Minnesota in the attorney general's office.  Her 20-year law career can be summed up in one word - variety," Governor Ventura said.  "She also has the ability to relate to people one-on-one in the community, which will help make this court more understandable to the average citizen."

Hudson has served on the Implementation Committee on Multicultural Diversity and Racial Fairness in the Courts as well as the Minnesota Supreme Court Racial Bias Task Force.  She is active in St. John's Missionary Baptist Church, where her husband is the pastor, as a youth ministry team leader and Bible study teacher, was a commissioner for the St. Paul Public Housing Agency, served as a Metropolitan State University Foundation Trustee and as a reading buddy at the Benjamin E. Mays Magnet School for Communication Arts and Leadership.

Hudson, 45, was born in Jefferson City, Missouri and resides in Roseville with her husband Reverend Willie Hudson.  They have a son, Kobie, 28.  Hudson replaces the Honorable Roland Amundson, who resigned on February 24, 2002.