Covington law firm hires Biden environmental official for new climate ... - Reuters
Covington law firm hires Biden environmental official for new climate practice | Reuters
Covington law firm hires Biden environmental official for new climate practice
(Reuters) - U.S. law firm Covington & Burling said Wednesday that it hired a former White House environmental official under President Joe Biden to help lead a new practice focused on the transition to renewable energy.
Jayni Hein, a former senior director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is joining Covington as a San Francisco-based attorney and co-chair of a new practice called carbon management and climate mitigation, aimed at helping companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and address climate risk.
Hein, who will be of counsel at Covington, will advise clients on environmental compliance, clean energy infrastructure and climate-related regulatory issues, the firm said.
“We're only at the very beginning of this process,” Hein said. “It seemed like the perfect time to move into the private sector to help companies take full advantage of all of the incentives” in Biden administration climate policies.
Law firms have benefited from a rise in infrastructure and energy work tied to new laws providing government grants and tax breaks for clean energy projects. Lawyers have also been preparing for a rule from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requiring public companies to make disclosures about their greenhouse gas emissions.
At the same time, Republicans have accused companies of catering to progressive interests by supporting the ESG investing movement, which views issues like climate risk as material to investors.
Hein said she joined Washington, D.C.-based Covington, known for its regulatory practices, because she wanted a firm that “understands how government works.”
At the White House, Hein helped oversee the administration’s climate agenda, helping to implement the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which included federal subsidies and tax credits designed to encourage a move away from fossil fuels.
Earlier in her career, she taught natural resources law and practiced at law firm Latham & Watkins.
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