Samantha Schwartz
Adjunct Professor
Bio
Samantha is a criminal defense trial and appellate attorney with extensive experience in California courts. As a trial attorney, she conducted numerous jury trials and drafted and argued a wide range of motions. As an appellate attorney, she authored and filed more than 100 briefs in the First, Third, and Fifth District Courts of Appeal, as well as the San Francisco Superior Court. She also has a background in immigration law, having represented individuals in deportation proceedings.
Samantha earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2002. After a brief career as a computer programmer, she decided to pursue law and earned her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in 2006. While in law school, she served as a writer and associate editor for the Golden Gate University Law Review and graduated from the Honors Lawyering Program. She was admitted to practice law in California in 2006.
An avid writer, Samantha enjoys writing short stories and novels and is currently working on a prose retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her two young children and co-hosts a weekly podcast exploring the intersection of science fiction television and the law.