Robert C. Goodman
Shareholder

Areas of Practice
Mr. Goodman is chair of the firm’s Environmental Law Practice Group.

Professional Qualifications

Throughout his legal career, Mr. Goodman has specialized in environmental litigation and counseling. From 1989 to 1991, he served as Trial Attorney for the United States Department of Justice's Environmental Enforcement Section in Washington, D.C. While with the Department of Justice, Mr.  Goodman represented the Environmental Protection Agency, prosecuting cases under all of the major federal environmental statutes in federal courts throughout the United States.

In 1992, Mr. Goodman returned to private practice as a partner in a mid-sized San Francisco law firm, where he founded and chaired the firm's environmental practice group. Three years later, a survey of in-house counsel conducted by the American Lawyer magazine identified that firm's environmental practice group as being among the environmental practice groups nationwide that in-house lawyers rate most highly and select for "service, quality and value."

In 1997, Mr. Goodman founded his own firm, Law Offices of Robert C. Goodman, which represented both entities and individuals in litigation arising under federal and state environmental law and in negotiations with regulatory agencies. He has extensive experience in cases arising under CEQA, CERCLA, RCRA, Proposition 65, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and in use of ADR in environmental cases. His primary litigation work has been on behalf of clients facing enforcement actions by regulatory agencies concerning contaminated soil or groundwater, clients involved in litigation with private parties over contamination, and clients facing enforcement action for violations of state and federal environmental laws, including California's Proposition 65.

In addition to his work as a litigator, Mr. Goodman is also actively involved in alternative dispute resolution, both as an advocate and as a neutral. He is a member of the panel of arbitrators for the San Francisco Superior Court and is a mediator for the Court's Early Settlement Program. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California has also selected Mr. Goodman as a panelist for its Early Neutral Evaluation Program.

Mr. Goodman is a frequent speaker and lecturer on environmental issues. He is an adjunct professor of Environmental Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he teaches a course on environmental litigation. He also has served as a faculty member for the Golden Gate University School of Law Environmental Law Summer Program, teaching a course on the environmental implications of real estate transactions.