Bio


David J. Hayes has focused his career on energy, environmental and natural resources matters. He most recently served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy. Prior to working for President Biden, Hayes was Executive Director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at the NYU School of Law, where he worked with state attorneys general on climate, environment and clean energy initiatives. Hayes is a former Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the Stanford Law School; a Fellow at Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and Woods Institute for the Environment; the Senate-confirmed Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the U.S. Department of the Interior for Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton; and Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute. Between his stints in government, he was a partner and Global Chair of the Environment, Land and Resources Department at Latham & Watkins. Hayes is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Stanford Law School.

Academic Appointments


  • Lecturer, Stanford Law School