Rose Carmen Goldberg

Rose Carmen Goldberg is an Associate Teaching Professor and the Director of the Veterans Clinic at University of Washington School of Law. She has more than a decade of experience in veterans law and policy.

Most recently, she served as George W. Crawford Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, where she taught the Veterans Legal Services Clinic, and as Visiting Senior Fellow at the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School. Previously, she advanced veterans’ access to justice as Associate Director of Policy and Programs at Stanford Law School’s Deborah L. Rhode Center. For several years, she taught UC Berkeley School of Law’s Veterans Law Practicum and served as faculty co-founder of the Legal Obstacles Veterans Encounter (LOVE) pro bono project. She has also taught courses on Medical-Legal Partnerships and op-ed writing at Columbia University and Stanford. She began her legal practice as a Skadden Fellow at Swords to Plowshares, where she founded a Medical-Legal Partnership for unhoused and low-income veterans in Oakland, California.

Professor Goldberg’s background also includes state service and positions in all branches of the federal government. She served as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Attorney General’s Office, where she led affirmative civil litigation and policy advocacy focused primarily on veterans, gun violence prevention, and student loans. Her federal service includes working at the White House on Native American Affairs and for Sen. Blumenthal on Senate Judiciary Committee matters. Before law school, she worked at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and was nominated to serve on the Health Reform Evaluation Committee. She clerked for Hon. Theodore A. McKee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

She has written about veterans, mental health, sexual assault, and end-of-life issues in prominent outlets, including: Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The Hill, Boston Globe, Albuquerque Journal, and Slate. She serves on the boards of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Historical Society and the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation as Veterans Justice Fellowship advisor, and is a faculty member for the National Association of Attorneys General. She is past chair of the California Lawyers Association Litigation Section’s Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and served on the Advisory Board of the American Indian Cultural District of San Francisco.

She has been recognized for her service, teaching, and writing, including: California Women Lawyers Fay Stender Award for humanity, courage, and commitment to the underrepresented; California Department of Veterans Affairs Women Veterans Advocates Award; California Young Lawyers Association Jack Berman Award of Achievement for distinguished service to the public; Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Distinguished Fellow Award; National Center for Medical-Legal Partnerships Outstanding Research Award; Oklahoma Supreme Court Susan J. Ferrell Scholarship; National Society of Newspaper Columnists Awards for crisis commentary and social justice media writing; Native American Law Students Association Writing Prize.

• The trouble with US veterans benefits isn’t ‘rampant’ fraud – it’s bureaucratic roadblocks, advocates say (Professor Goldberg quoted)
  Nov 04, 2025 | Source: The Guardian

  The Post’s reporting “is grossly misleading and one-sided and misrepresents the facts”, said Rose Carmen Goldberg, director of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School. “For many veterans, seeking benefits represents a second battle, a painful and retraumatizing experience where they are forced to open up old wounds to share with strangers and the most difficult experiences of their lives.”

• Mass deportations under Trump ensnare military service members,veterans
  Sep 04, 2025 | Source: News 21

  That situation is “the most common scenario in terms of how deportation is triggered,” said Rose Carmen Goldberg, an expert in veterans law who oversaw completion of the report and now teaches in the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School.

• For noncitizen veterans who commit crimes, deportation like a ‘second punishment’ (Professor Goldberg quoted)
  Aug 31, 2025 | Source: Washington Post

  Though troops are eligible to apply for naturalization while serving, the process isn’t always clear to them. Some also wrongly assume that the oath of enlistment guarantees their permanent status in the country, said Rose Carmen Goldberg, an expert on veteran law at Yale Law School.

• This Company is Spending Millions to Profit Off Veterans’ Benefits. Why Won’t LawmakersStop It?
  Apr 18, 2025 | Source: Mother Jones

  “The VA disability claims process is horribly broken, it’s not well run, and it can be very despairing and understandably discouraging for veterans,” said Rose Carmen Goldberg, a lawyer accredited by VA to assist with benefit claims who also serves as associate director at the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford University. 

• Keeping the Courthouse Doors Open to Active-Duty Servicemembers: Stanford’s Rose Carmen Goldberg Discusses Military Lending Act Supreme Court Amicus Brief
  Dec 09, 2024 | Source: Stanford Law School

  In this Q&A, Rose Carmen Goldberg, associate director of policy and programs at SLS’s Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession, discusses the U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief she filed in support of the plaintiffs, along with Rhode Center Civil Justice Fellow Brianne Holland-Stergar and the UC Berkeley School of Law Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice.

• UC Berkeley law students champion legal advocacy for veterans facing systemicbarriers
  Nov 11, 2024 | Source: Daily Journal

  “Practicum projects prioritize advocacy on behalf of marginalized veterans, including veterans of color, women veterans, and those experiencing homelessness, criminal legal system involvement, or mental health disabilities,” said Professor Rose Carmen Goldberg, who leads the practicum. “Projects vary over time, in response to the needs of the veteran community.”

• Deported U.S. Army veteran shares his citizenship struggle (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Jul 25, 2024 | Source: Tampa Bay 28

  “This problem is so big that the federal government itself doesn't even know the scope of the problem,” explained law professor Rose Carmen Goldberg.

• Florida veteran fights for US citizenship (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Jul 03, 2024 | Source: Tampa Bay 28

  The notion of America recruiting foreigners into its military under false promises isn’t new, said Rose Carmen Goldberg. “This problem is so big that the federal government itself doesn’t even know the scope of the problem,” she explained.

• Berkeley Law students highlight obstacles deported veterans face in accessing vital services (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  May 17, 2024 | Source: Berkeley Law

  “The only way many deported veterans can return to the U.S. is in a box for a military burial. Not when they and their families plead for the VA health care they need to survive. This is unconscionable,” says practicum Director Rose Carmen Goldberg, who oversaw the report. “I’m incredibly proud of the practicum students’ hard work tackling the intersecting military, veterans, criminal, and immigration law issues at the root of this tragedy — and for devising creative solutions.” 

• Broken Promises: Deported veterans struggle to access entitled benefits (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Apr 02, 2024 | Source: Daily Journal

  New report from Berkeley Law students and Lecturer Rose Carmen Goldberg who overseas the Veterans Practicum, looks at the struggles deported veterans face when trying to access benefits they are entitled to.

• Berkeley Law’s Veterans Law Practicum releases report on deported veterans crisis (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Apr 02, 2024 | Source: The Daily Californian

  “There are a lot of deported veterans in Tijuana, and there’s a big VA hospital in San Diego right across the border,” Goldberg said. “Someone they served with (could have done) the exact same thing in service and they’re in San Diego, and they can get that care, and they’re just a short hop away across the border and many (deported veterans) have passed away. It is a tragedy and an injustice.”

• U.S. Army issues new discharges for former JBLMsoldiers
  Apr 02, 2024 | Source: King5

  “You don’t have access off the bat to VA health care, disability benefits, education benefits, housing benefits,” said Rose Goldberg, a long-time veterans’ attorney who now teaches veterans law at the University of California, Berkeley. “There’s a deep tragic irony there because essentially you're blocking the veterans who may be the most in need of VA support from accessing those supports.” 

• Lawsuits accuse unlicensed massage therapist at Ft. Sam of sexually assaulting two female service members on same day (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Nov 13, 2022 | Source: KSAT

  “There is a longstanding history of the military not being held accountable for sexual assaults that take place under its watch,” said Rose Carmen Goldberg, a veterans law lecturer at the University of California School of Law.

• Berkeley Law Practicum Puts Spotlight On Veterans Law (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Nov 10, 2022 | Source: Law360

  As class instructor Rose Goldberg explained to Law360 Pulse, veterans law is an area of the law that few understand, with its own specialized venues and procedural rules within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "It's a complicated and unique area of the law with its own statutes and regulations," she said. "There are VA administrative courts and courts of appeals for veterans claims. If you layer onto that needing an attorney or advocate who knows veterans law and immigration law and criminal law, there is very little support."

• Berkeley Law Practicum works to reduce veteran deportation, improve healthcare access (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Nov 02, 2022 | Source: Daily Californian

  “All too often, veterans are deported consequent to criminal convictions stemming from mental health conditions they incurred during military service,” Goldberg said in an email. “After being incarcerated for behaviors stemming from trauma, they face the second punishment of exile. These veterans deserve support — not banishment and separation from their families.”

• Students step up to advocate for deported veterans (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Oct 18, 2022 | Source: Berkeley Law

  “That literally thousands of veterans have been deported after serving their country is an under-recognized and long unaddressed injustice,” Goldberg says. “First, they face incarceration. And then, they face the second punishment of exile. These veterans deserve mental health care and support — not banishment and separation from their families.”

• Opinion: No one should die alone (Rose Carmen Goldberg)
  Jan 07, 2022 | Source: Boston Globe

  Rose Carmen Goldberg explores the alarming decrease in accessibility of hospice care despite the increase in death and awareness of the importance of end-of-life care during the pandemic

• Opinion: Decades of sexual assault in the military has gone unpunished thanks to this one law (Rose Carmen Goldberg)
  Nov 11, 2021 | Source: SF Chronicle

  Rose Carmen Goldberg discusses how one law is responsible for decades of sexual assault in the military going unpunished.

• Opinion: My dad died alone during the pandemic. Months later, we finally said goodbye (Rose Carmen Goldberg)
  Sep 23, 2021 | Source: San Diego Tribune

  Rose Carmen Goldberg writes about her experience putting her father to rest.

• ‘A Poison in the System’: The Epidemic of Military Sexual Assault (Rose Carmen Goldberg quoted)
  Aug 03, 2021 | Source: NY Times Magazine

  Rose Carmen Goldberg discusses the crisis of sexual assault in the military.

• Opinion: My dad died during COVID. A Zoom grief group helped me heal (Rose Carmen Goldberg)
  Jan 24, 2021 | Source: L.A. Times

  Rose Carmen Goldberg reflects on the passing of her father from COVID-19 and the support she found by joining a virtual grief group.