Heidi Rummel directs the Post-Conviction Justice Project. Under her supervision, state bar certified law students represent clients serving life terms in California prisons on a variety of post-conviction matters including parole hearings, clemency, resentencing hearings, and habeas corpus. The Project has won the release of more than 250 clients, including more than 25 clients sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Rummel has worked to pass significant legislative reforms in California, including expanding the scope of habeas relief for people with a history of intimate partner violence related to their crime (AB 593 amending Penal Code § 1473.5); requiring the parole board to give specialized consideration to a history of intimate partner violence at parole hearings (AB 1593 amending Penal Code § 4801); creating a process for 16 and 17-year olds sentenced to life without parole to petition for a resentencing hearing (SB 9 amending Penal Code § 1170(d)); creating the Youth Offender Parole Hearing process (SB 260, SB 261, and AB 1308 amending Penal Code §§ 3051 and 4801); revising the fitness criteria for juveniles to be transferred to adult court (SB 382 amending Penal Code § 1170.17 and Welfare and Institutions Code § 707); creating a constitutional remedy for 16 and 17-year olds sentenced to life without possibility of parole (SB 394 amending Penal Code § 3051); and providing legal consultation to minors prior to custodial interrogation (SB 395 amending WIC § 625.6).

In 2024, Governor Newsom appointed Rummel to serve on the Committee for Revision of the Penal Code.

Prior to joining the USC Gould School of Law faculty, Rummel served in the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles prosecuting federal criminal civil rights offenses and serving as deputy chief in the General Crimes Section. Previously, Rummel was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where she handled state court prosecutions and appellate matters.

Rummel currently teaches a post-conviction clinical seminar and Legislative Policy Practicum. She also has taught Criminal Law, Legal Analysis of Evidence, and Trial Advocacy.

Rummel holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with highest honors and a JD from the University of Chicago with honors. She clerked for the Honorable Thomas Penfield Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.