Deborah Goldfarb, JD, Ph.D. is an affiliate FLC trial consultant. Dr. Goldfarb brings to FLC unique insight and expertise on the intersection of law and psychology, including legal attitudes, jury and judge decision making, and memory in victims and eyewitnesses. Dr. Goldfarb has consulted on and served as an expert in a number of cases on topics from complex jury decision-making to issues of bias to children’s and adults’ abilities to remember events, including highly traumatic events.
Dr. Goldfarb is currently a legal psychology professor at Florida International University. Dr. Goldfarb first graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School. During her time in law school, Dr. Goldfarb won a trial advocacy award from the National Association of Trial Lawyers. After graduation, Dr. Goldfarb worked as a litigator at the international law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom and Bryan Cave. She also clerked as a federal district court clerk for the Honorable Dean Whipple.
After working as an attorney for a number of years, Dr. Goldfarb obtained a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Davis. As a professor, she currently studies a number of legal psychology topics, such as jurors’ understanding of complex evidence, children’s and adults’ ability to remember contacts with others, and children’s testimony in criminal hearings. Her research has been and is currently funded by a number of national agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.
Dr. Goldfarb’s work has been published in leading academic and applied social science journals, including Psychological Science, Clinical Psychological Science, and American Psychologist. Dr. Goldfarb’s work has been presented at numerous conferences, including the annual conferences for the American Bar Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Psychological Association.
Currently, Dr. Goldfarb serves as a fellow for the Section on Dispute Resolution for the American Bar Association and is the Early Career Professional Co-Chair for the American Psychological Association’s Section on Child Maltreatment.