Julie received her undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley (with honors) before attending the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a member of the student senate and participated in the NLG Unemployment Compensation Clinic.

After law school, Julie was an associate for THEODORE F. SPEARMAN, PC, specializing in Plaintiff’s personal injury and civil rights, with a primary focus on §1983 litigation. Thereafter, she was the Founding Executive Director for the NLG/MAURICE & JANE SUGAR LAW CENTER FOR ECONOMIC & SOCIAL JUSTICE. This national public interest litigation center established a national reputation as leading law experts in environmental justice, plant closing notification law (WARN Act) on behalf of dislocated workers and economic justice/living wage issues.

Julie has paved the way for significant changes to our legal system, leading the first successful environmental justice §1983 action in the country, involving the construction of a public elementary school on contaminated industrial waste site in a predominantly Hispanic/African American community (Lucero v. Detroit Public Schools); she litigated/settled first successful living wage enforcement action in country; and she tried first successful federal jury WARN Act trial in country (Wallace v. Detroit Coke).

Julie has testified has testified before House and Senate subcommittees on the need to enforce civil rights laws on behalf of environmental justice litigants, on the need to strengthen WARN Act legislation, and in support of passing and strengthening local living wage laws.

Prior to founding Goodman & Hurwitz, P.C., Julie spent twenty-four years in private practice as a sole practitioner.

Public service is at the heart of Julie’s career and she participates in many community and volunteer activities, including:

• Ernie Goodman Civil Rights Mock Trial Tournament, Moot Court Judge
• National Lawyers Guild, National Executive Committee
• National Workers’ Rights Board, Jobs With Justice, Washington D.C.
• Southeast Michigan Workers’ Rights Board, SE Michigan Jobs With Justice, Detroit, Michigan
• American Trial Lawyers Association
• Michigan Trial Lawyers Association
• AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee
• National Lawyers Guild, Executive Board
• National Lawyers Guild, Detroit Chapter President
• NLG/Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Board of Directors
• National Lawyers Guild Foundation, Board of Directors, New York, NY
• Michigan State Bar Civil Liberties Committee
• Cranbrook Peace Foundation, Youth Leadership Project, “Legal Day” Coordinator
• Peace Action of Michigan, Board of Directors

Julie is admitted to practice in all Michigan courts, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the U.S. District Court of Colorado, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Julie was rated a Super Lawyer from 2006 through 2010 and 2017. Read more about their selection criteria on their Website. She was also recognized by Martindale-Hubbell as a Top Rated Lawyer in 2015.