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Professor Chris Goodman Elected to The American Law Institute

Pepperdine Caruso Law professor Christine Chambers Goodman has been elected to The American Law Institute. The American Law Institute (ALI) is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law. The ALI drafts, discusses, revises, and publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law that are highly influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.

The newly-elected members of ALI include eminent lawyers, judges, and academics who have the opportunity to develop rules and doctrines in their areas of expertise.

“We have had many reasons to celebrate in 2023, and I am happy that this new member class gives us yet another one,” said ALI President David F. Levi. “Reaching our centennial was no small task. An organization can only last as long as ALI has and can only produce work as influential as our projects through the hard work and dedication of members like ours. I am pleased to announce this new class of members and look forward to working with them on our work as we begin our second century.”

Professor Goodman joins many other distinguished Caruso Law faculty members who serve ALI, including professors Jack J. Coe, Richard L. Cupp, Donald Earl (Trey) Childress, and David S. Han.

From The American Law Institute:

Christine Chambers Goodman joined the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law faculty in 2001. She teaches Evidence, Constitutional Law, Racial Justice, Trial Practice and Comparative Anti-Discrimination Law. She has participated in the Sudreau Global Justice Program in both Uganda and India, and taught in the London Program. Professor Goodman also has taught courses in Community Outreach/Youth Mentoring, Criminal Law, and Trial Preparation and Settlement. She serves as an advisor to the American Constitution Society Chapter, and formerly served as adviser to the Black Law Students Association, and Women's Legal Association, and as a mock trial team coach. Professor Goodman writes on equal protection topics, including implicit bias, algorithmic bias, affirmative action, preferences, diversity and racial privacy, as well as evidentiary and criminal law issues. The second edition of her book, California Evidence, in Aspen's Examples and Explanations series, as well as the Seventh edition of the Mendez, Goodman and Mainero Evidence textbook are now available.

While at Stanford Law School, Professor Goodman served on the board of directors for the Annual Women of Color and the Law Conference, worked as a teaching assistant in the political science department, and was an assistant editor for a new journal on gender issues. After law school, she worked as an associate at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (1991-93) and Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione (1993-1995), engaging in civil litigation in state and federal courts. In 1995, Professor Goodman began teaching at UCLA, and created and taught a course in lawyering skills for public interest attorneys.

Professor Goodman just finished a two-year term as the Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Outreach of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and Treasurer of LACBA's Diversity in the Profession Section, as well as the Vice President of Finance of the National Conference of Women' Bar Associations. She is a former chair of both the AALS Litigation Section and of the Evidence Section. She served on the board of Schools on Wheels, a local nonprofit that provides tutors and school supplies for homeless youths, and currently serves on the board of the Western Center on Law and Poverty. She has been an officer of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the 2016-2017 President of California Women Lawyers, and the 2017-18 President of its Foundation. Professor Goodman is a frequent speaker on the subject of diversity, equity, inclusion, and implicit and algorithmic bias.

The complete announcement may be found at American Law Institute