Geoffrey Hansen

Bio

Adjunct Professor Geoff Hansen received his B.A. in political science with distinction from Stanford University in 1974. He attended law school at Boalt Hall and received his J.D. in 1978. He spent the next three years at the Ninth Circuit, where he was a court law clerk, a division chief in the staff attorney’s office, and finally the senior motions attorney for criminal matters. In 1980 he landed his first adjunct position at Hastings teaching Legal Research & Writing.

In 1982 Professor Hansen left the Ninth Circuit and began working as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in San Francisco. In 1988 he was appointed Chief Assistant of the office, a position he presently maintains. In addition to LW&R, he has taught Moot Court, Criminal Law, Trial Advocacy, and Trial Objections at Hastings, and he coaches the Hastings Trial Team. He has been a faculty member at seminars and training programs for federal public and community defenders, private criminal defense attorneys, and students at various universities, and he currently chairs the national training committee for new federal defenders. He is the former President of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association of Northern California, and in 2002 received an outstanding federal public defender award by the National Association of Federal Defenders. Professor Hansen has authored case outlines on the federal three strikes law, technology in the courtroom, defending internet crimes, and the federal detention act.

Education

• Stanford University
  B.A. with Distinction 1974

• UC Berkeley
  J.D. 1978