Naomi Harlin Goodno
Biography
Professor Goodno is an award-winning teacher and law school leader whose work spans student affairs, academic administration, AI innovation, trial advocacy, and access to justice. She currently serves as Dean of Students and AI Innovation and has held several leadership roles in the Deans’ Suite, including Vice Dean and Academic Dean. In these roles, she has worked on academic affairs, student support, faculty and administrative leadership, and school-wide initiatives.
Professor Goodno teaches Civil Procedure, Evidence, and Trial Practice, along with other courses in criminal procedure, international law, and advocacy. She is a multiple-time recipient of both the First-Year Professor of the Year Award and the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence.
Professor Goodno’s scholarship and professional work focus on how law responds to new and complex challenges, particularly where legal responsibility, technology, and the protection of vulnerable communities intersect. Her work in trial advocacy, wrongful convictions, and international human rights reflects a broader commitment to access to justice and the fair treatment of those most affected by legal systems. Through the clinic, she supervises student appellate and amicus advocacy in innocence and criminal justice reform matters, including before the Ninth Circuit and the California Supreme Court.
Professor Goodno earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, where she focused on history and teaching. She attended Berkeley Law, University of California, for her first two years of law school and spent her third year studying at Harvard Law School. At Berkeley, she served as an articles editor for the California Law Review. At Harvard, she was an active member of the Mediation Program. During law school, she also gained criminal prosecution experience with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the Alameda District Attorney’s Office.
Before joining the faculty, Professor Goodno practiced at Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles, where she litigated complex civil, commercial, and white collar matters. She clerked for the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcón of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Education
- J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 1999
- Visiting Student, Harvard Law School, 1998–1999
- A.B., Princeton University, History, 1995
- Certificate in American Studies
- Secondary Teaching Certification
Topics
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence
- Trial Advocacy
- Appellate Advocacy
- Litigation
- Criminal Law
- AI and Education
Courses
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence
- Trial Practice
- International Criminal Law
- Advanced Criminal Procedure
- Wrongful Convictions
- Appellate Advocacy