Heather Goldsmith is an attorney from the United States. In 2008, she earned a a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, IL. She chairs the law department of North South University in Dhaka, Bangladesh where she teaches and conducts research on access to justice in developing countries. Her work includes a baseline assessment of people's perceptions of and experiences with the formal justice system in Timor Leste, an evidence based analysis of the formal courts of Bangladesh, and a survey on access to legal aid across 48 countries in Africa. She also prepared the initial draft of the UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid with Adam Stapleton, served as a member of the "Justice Audit -- Bangladesh" team, and works closely with local NGOs to strengthen traditional justice mechanisms and improve access to legal aid.