After focusing on history and teaching as an undergraduate at Princeton University, Professor Goodno attended Boalt Law School for the first two years and spent her third year studying at Harvard Law School. While at Boalt, Professor Goodno served as an articles editor for the California Law Review. At Harvard, she was an active member of the Mediation Program. She also interned at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of California, and the Alameda District Attorney's Office.

After law school, Professor Goodno joined the downtown Los Angeles firm of Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhart & Sullivan, where she litigated numerous complex civil litigation cases, including white collar crime, class actions, bankruptcy, breach of contract, fraud, and property and employment disputes. She then clerked for the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Professor Goodno teaches Civil Procedure, Evidence, Trial Practice, Human Rights and International Criminal Law, and Advanced Criminal Procedure. Her research interests focus on justice for children and the vulnerable which include the intersection of criminal law, evidence, constitutional law, global justice, and cyberspace. She is also active in working with international human rights organizations.