Rachel L. Goodman

Rachel L. Goodman is an associate in Montgomery McCracken’s Litigation Department. She litigates cases and counsels clients on a diverse range of matters, including class action and MDLs, maritime, cannabis, bankruptcy, sexual misconduct liability, commercial litigation, and real estate. Rachel handles dispositive motions and evidentiary disputes in state, federal, bankruptcy, and arbitration hearings.

Rachel’s experience in appellate advocacy has earned her professional acclaim and brought success to her clients. She co-authored the reply brief and argued on behalf of a foreign national in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She has litigated appeals under the Pennsylvania’s Post Conviction Relief Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s King Bench Power of Extraordinary Jurisdiction. In law school, Rachel earned the Barrister Award for best performance in a trial advocacy course. Rachel was also honored for her appellate advocacy as the runner-up at Temple University’s prestigious I. Herman Stern Moot Court Competition and a semi-finalist at the University of Wisconsin’s Evans National Moot Court Competition.

Rachel’s practice also reflects her commitment to the firm’s pro bono work. As a volunteer with the Homeless Advocacy Project, Rachel has counseled and advocated for clients facing eviction and homelessness in Philadelphia landlord-tenant court. As a volunteer in the Honorable Tim Rice’s courtroom through the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Supervision to Aid Reentry Program (Federal Reentry Court), she has represented clients in traffic and custody matters. She has also collaborated on an appeal of a Pennsylvania juvenile lifer’s resentencing decision in conjunction with the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Program. In addition, Rachel represented a mourning family in a New Jersey wrongful death action. Prior to joining the firm, Rachel’s pro bono work included family separation litigation, § 1983 civil rights actions, record expungements, and appeals of criminal convictions, death sentences, and final orders of deportation.

Prior to joining Montgomery McCracken, Rachel interned for the Honorable Gerald J. Pappert in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as part of the Federal Judicial Clerkship Honors Program and piloted Temple Law School’s Third Circuit Litigation Clinic as its inaugural student-advocate. As a Beasley Scholar, Rachel was awarded a full-tuition law school scholarship. In pursuit of her lifelong passion for international affairs and business, Rachel was appointed a Foreign Service Consular Fellow by the U.S. Department of State, worked as a paralegal and Spanish-English translator for an immigration law firm, and served as an editor for the Temple International and Comparative Law Journal.