David J. Hayes
David J. Hayes is a Professor of the Practice at Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability and affiliated faculty at Stanford Law School. Hayes focuses his teaching and research at Stanford on climate, environmental, natural resources, and energy law and policy.
Prior to taking a full-time position at Stanford, Hayes served as Special Assistant for Climate Policy for President Biden alongside National Climate Advisors Gina McCarthy and Ali Zaidi. At the White House, Hayes played a key role in developing climate legislative and administrative initiatives, with a special focus on nature-based climate solutions, improving climate resilience, and accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy.
Before joining the White House, Hayes was a climate policy advisor for the Biden-Harris Transition and, from 2017 to 2021, was the founder and Executive Director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at the NYU School of Law, where he worked with state attorneys general to advance climate, environmental and clean energy laws and policies.
Hayes served as the Senate-confirmed Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the U.S. Department of the Interior for Presidents Barack Obama (2009-2013) and Bill Clinton (1998-2001). As the #2 official with line authority over the Department’s 8 major bureaus and 60,000 employees, Hayes engaged in all aspects of the Interior Department’s mission. During the Obama Administration, Hayes co-chaired the Secretary’s Energy and Climate Change Task Force, where he led efforts to accelerate the development of renewable energy on public lands and offshore waters and directed Interior’s climate change adaptation strategy, including the formation of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and regional Climate Science Centers.
Before and between his time in government, Hayes was a lecturer in law at Stanford Law School; a partner and Global Chair of the Environment, Land & Resources Department at the international law firm of Latham & Watkins; and Chair of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute. He currently serves on the board of the Coalition for Green Capital (a clean energy finance non-profit) and Vaulted Deep (a carbon removal company). Hayes is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Stanford Law School.