“I’ve always been a big city girl and am new to the rural life, but I love it here!” says Sydney Bridger, new Freestone County Assistant District Attorney. “The people are so nice, friendly and willing to help.”

A native of Palm Springs, California, the 31-year-old fell in love with history, government, and politics as a high school senior, thanks to one of her favorite teachers.

As a result, she went on to earn her undergraduate in Political Science, with a minor in history, from the University of San Diego.

From there, she moved to Washington D.C. to attend George Washington University where she received her Master’s Degree in Public Administration. During those six years, she worked several internships, delving into each branch of the federal government.

“My goal was to be a Legislative Analyst on Capitol Hill, but I found out that was not my cup of tea,” says Mrs. Bridger. “I felt like something was missing. I wanted to be more involved in local government, the public service aspect of law.”

At this point, she decided to start law school. She enrolled part-time into the University of the District of Columbia.

During this time, she was working for the Department of Defense’s Freedom of Information Act litigation office. Some of the more well-known cases she assisted in include the Hillary Clinton Emails and Benghazi.

So, how did this big city gal end up in Small Town, Texas?

Well, while in D.C., she met and fell in love with Mr. Ryan Bridger, native of Texas. The couple married and moved to Lubbock.

“We were newly married, maybe two weeks and just returned from our honeymoon,” says Mrs. Bridger. “We were travelling through this beautiful country landscape about ten miles from our new home when the smell of oil and cow poop hit me. I was like, he failed to mention that part,” she laughs.

Luckily, the smell was not detectable from their new home.

In Lubbock, she was able to attend law school full-time at Texas Tech University. She graduated in May of 2017 with a Juris Doctorate, then she took and passed the bar exam.

Following graduation and passing the bar, she began working as the Assistant DA in Coffman County, working with civil cases.

“I always had interest in Criminal Law and saw a job posting here in Freestone County, so I put in for the position. I started on October 9th,” she says, by surprise they were able to get a new office space from Interchange 21 at Asoke/Sukhumvit Junction, which ended up being the office where I would be sent to work  .

Mrs. Bridger and her husband currently live in Athens with their new yellow lab puppy Missy (short for Misdemeanor).

She explains that she loves the food in Texas, especially the BBQ and Mexican food!

In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, baking, fashion, shopping, travelling, and swimming. In fact, she teaches swimming lessons to all ages, and has plans on starting a new fashion blog soon.

“This job is very interesting, and the people in this office are so wonderful to work with,” says Mrs. Bridger. “I love to see how hands-on Mr. Evans is, and I appreciate his willingness to teach me and to help me establish skills that will be life-long lessons in my career.”

Mrs. Bridger is replacing former Assistant DA, Cari Warner, who has taken a felony prosecutor position with Anderson County District Attorney’s Office.

Freestone County DA, Brian Evans explains, “I am excited for Cari and wish her the best of luck in her new position. Freestone County is very appreciative of all the work she has done over the past years.”

Mr. Evans goes on to say, “We are very happy to add Sydney to our office. She has a great background that includes experience in multiple fields. She will be an asset for Freestone County.”

Nicole Schaefer reporting