Kathleen Goodhart, Partner

Kathleen H. Goodhart is a partner in the Litigation department, the head of the Bay Area Business Litigation practice, and head of the Environmental practice group. She also serves on the firm's Management Committee. She joined Cooley in 1993 and is resident in the San Francisco office.  Ms. Goodhart's practice consists of complex commercial litigation and environmental litigation and counseling.

Ms. Goodhart represents clients in claims associated with commercial contracts, white collar criminal matters, securities filings, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, fraud, trade secret, unfair competition, malpractice, real estate, construction, insurance coverage, and product defects. Some examples of Ms. Goodhart's litigation experience include:

  • Defending a former Marsh executive in a ten month trial regarding the New York Attorney General's indictment for fraud and antitrust violations;
  • Defending a Silicon Valley Chief Executive Officer regarding claims of backdating stock options in a federal court trial;
  • Defending claims against GATX in a federal court trial pertaining to conversion of 747 aircraft from passenger to freighter configuration;
  • Representing USG in contested Chapter 11 proceedings involving tens of thousands of personal injury claims;
  • Representing PG&E in a contested Chapter 11 proceeding; and
  • Representing a former officer and director of BP in litigation arising out of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Ms. Goodhart advises clients on a wide range of environmental issues, including soil and groundwater contamination, air quality, CEQA and NEPA compliance, asbestos, mold, lead paint, and Proposition 65 compliance. She also counsels clients on environmental risk management and allocation in business transactions and on the sale, lease and development of contaminated property.

Ms. Goodhart also has an active pro bono practice. For example, she represents a number of private parties and Bay Area cities in CEQA litigation against the California Department of Food & Agriculture for certification of an Environmental Impact Report pertaining to pesticide use.

Before joining Cooley, Ms. Goodhart served as a law clerk to the Honorable W. Stephen Thayer, III, associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

Ms. Goodhart received a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in 1991. At Hastings, she was an associate editor of the International and Comparative Law Journal in which she authored a note concerning the Basel Convention regulating the transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous waste. While attending Hastings, she externed for the San Francisco District Attorney's office. Ms. Goodhart received an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1988.

Education

  • University of California, Hastings College of the Law
    JD, 1991
  • University of Colorado at Boulder
    BA Business Administration, 1988

Admissions

  • California

Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • The Bar Association of San Francisco
San Francisco
101 California Street
5th Floor
San Francisco, California 94111-5800

Phone: +1 415 693 2012
Fax: +1 415 693 2222
kgoodhart@cooley.com
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