[3] In 1993, Barkow graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in history and psychology and was inducted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

[3] She clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and for Justice Antonin Scalia at the U.S. Supreme Court, according to one report serving as the "counter-clerk"—the nickname given to the Democrat he hires to sniff out political biases in his arguments.

[3] She has published more than 40 articles, essays, and book chapters, and her work has appeared in the country's top law reviews.

[8] She was a member of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office's Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel from 2010–2021.

[9] She has testified before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on Clemency,;[10] before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection regarding the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency,;[11] before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties,;[12] and before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the future of the federal sentencing guidelines in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Blakely v.