A native of St. Louis Missouri, Professor Goodwin obtained his B.A. degree from the University of Missouri and his J.D. degree from Washington University. Upon graduation from law school Professor Goodwin became a VISTA attorney and established a privately funded poverty and civil rights law center in Southeast Missouri. Professor Goodwin was the center’s primary litigator, and he became its executive director before leaving. Professor Goodwin’s first case before the Missouri Supreme Court involved a successful challenge to the constitutionality of charging registration and course fees in Missouri’s public schools. Professor Goodwin joined Legal Services of Eastern Missouri in 1978, where he continued his public interest trial and appellate court practice. In 1981 Professor Goodwin joined the faculty at Washington University School of Law, and in 1983 he came to Cumberland School of Law. At Cumberland Professor Goodwin served as the Director of the Center for Advocacy and Clinical Education from 1984 to 1991. During this time the Center won the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyer's “Emil Gumpert Award” for excellence in teaching trial advocacy. Professor Goodwin currently teaches courses Evidence, Scientific Evidence, Criminal Law and related electives. Since joining the Cumberland faculty Professor Goodwin has remained active in public interest litigation. In one of his highest profile cases since coming to Alabama, Professor Goodwin represented a class of over 100,000 school-aged children in a lawsuit that successfully challenged inequities in Alabama’s system for funding public schools, and its provision of educational services to children with disabilities. Professor Goodwin was appointed Special Master by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in a case that involved redrafting district boundaries for the election of members of the Alabama State Board of Education in compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Professor Goodwin has authored a nationally adopted text on Scientific Evidence, and is a Fellow in the “American Academy of Forensic Sciences.” Professor Goodwin is currently working on a new edition of the authoritative evidence treatise, MCELROY’S ALABAMA EVIDENCE with Dean Charles Gamble. He has written extensively in the area of school law and expert testimony and his articles have been cited by state and federal courts.
