Maya Golden-Krasner’s scholarship focuses on the histories of law, public health, and environmental health. She co-teaches Environmental Justice Law with Adriano Martinez. 

Golden-Krasner is Deputy Director of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity. There, she represents the Center in litigation involving oil and gas-related pollution. Prior to working at the Center, Golden-Krasner was a staff attorney at Communities for a Better Environment where she represented the environmental justice group in litigation involving the California Environmental Quality Act and federal and state air, water, and land use laws.

Golden-Krasner received her B.A. cum laude from the University of Washington and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law. As a law student, she was Symposium Editor and Lead Articles Editor for the Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs. She received her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.  As a Ph.D. student, Golden-Krasner received the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Education, awarded to students of exceptional academic ability to undertake doctoral study in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.

After law school, Golden-Krasner was an attorney for Chatten-Brown & Associates before joining the Office of the District Prosecutor with the South Coast Air Quality Management District where she represented the District in variance hearings before the Hearing Board, and where she participated in one of largest cases in District history:  a lawsuit against BP for violations of the California Health and Safety Code at a large refinery.