Professor Safrin earned her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and her B.A. magna cum laude from Pomona College. She clerked for Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was an associate at the San Francisco law firm of Hanson & Bridgett. For eight years she was an attorney-adviser at the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State. There she served as legal counsel for the Bureau of Oceans, International Environment, and Scientific Affairs, where she helped negotiate treaties and international instruments pertaining to biotechnology, biological diversity, and marine pollution. Prior to that, she served as legal counsel for diplomatic law and litigation and as legal counsel for African affairs. She is a recipient of several Department of State awards for outstanding service.

Prior to joining Rutgers in September 2002, Professor Safrin was an Open Society Institute Fellow and a visiting scholar at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C. Her publications include "Chain Reaction: How Property Begets Property" (2007) in the Notre Dame Law Review; and "Hyperownership in a Time of Biotechnological Promise: The International Conflict to Control the Building Blocks of Life" (2004), which was awarded the American Society of International Law Francis Deak Prize, and "Treaties in Collision: The Biosafety Protocol and the World Trade Organization Agreements" (2002), both in the American Journal of International Law.