Headshot of Heather Varanini

Heather Varanini

Professor of Practice

Bio

Professor Varanini will provide academic and bar passage support to LEOP students. She is committed to making each meeting a safe place for students to learn, focusing on helping students to identify their strengths and challenges, and fostering a collaborative environment where students develop the tools necessary to achieve their goals.

Prior to joining UC Law SF, Professor Varanini was the Director for Academic Achievement at the Golden Gate University School of Law, where she oversaw all of the academic skills programming and classes. She supported students from orientation through their swearing in ceremony, and taught courses in every year of the law school.

As a law student at Golden Gate, she served as the Co-Executive Research Editor for the Ninth Circuit Survey, the only law journal in the country dedicated to the jurisprudence of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also worked as a judicial extern and Evidence Teaching Assistant for the Honorable Maria-Elena James (ret.).

Accomplishments

  • Selected Presenter, New York Academic Support Professionals Workshop
    Academic Support and Bar Preparation professionals at New York law schools host a one-day workshop focused on supporting our students and each other. The presentation was titled "Effectively Supporting Neurodivergent Law Students to Academic and Bar Exam Success," and focused on ways Academic Support and Bar Preparation professionals can use their broad skill set to support neurodivergent law student population.     2024

  • Selected Presenter, Association for Academic Support Educators
    AASE is the largest annual conference for law school Academic Support and Bar Preparation professionals. The presentation was titled "Hiring Differently to Find the Best TAs: Moving Away from Cherry Picking Top Students to Effectively Choosing Teaching Assistants for ASP Programming and Classes," and discussed using different hiring methods coupled with a focus on leadership to approach TA hiring in law school.     2023

  • Greg Egertson Outstanding Staff Award
    Conferred by the graduating students of GGU Law      2021

  • Selected Presenter, ABA For Law Students
    During Virtual Office Hours, Professor Varanini discussed various methods for effectively tackling exam preparation with the shift to entirely remote learning and studying at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic: https://abaforlawstudents.com/2020/11/23/virtual-office-hours-exam-prep/.     2020

  • Greg Egertson Outstanding Staff Award
    Conferred by the graduating students of GGU Law       2020

  • Rose Bird Award for Professionalism and Integrity
    Conferred by the GGU Law faculty     2017

Selected Scholarship

Expertise