Susan M. Davies, who served as the Steven and Maureen Klinsky Visiting Professor of Practice for Leadership and Progress at Harvard Law School during the past academic year, has been named a professor of practice at Harvard Law School, effective July 1. Davies brings her decades of experience in private practice and at the highest levels of government, including at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Deputy White House Counsel to President Barack Obama ’91.
“Susan is an extraordinarily accomplished legal practitioner and classroom teacher with deep connections to the HLS community, and we are delighted to welcome her back,” said John C.P. Goldberg, the Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. “Her unmatched experience in key positions in all three branches of the federal government, along with her commitment to rigorous legal education, will be a huge asset to our students and faculty.”
Davies, who has taught the required 1L course Legislation and Regulation and a variety of seminars at Harvard Law School, first joined the faculty in 2011 as a lecturer on law and served as the Joseph Story Senior Lecturer in Law until 2021.
“I am delighted to be returning to the Law School, and especially grateful to make my professional home at this extraordinary institution in a moment when the challenges facing our democracy and society are so profound,” said Davies. ” It is a true privilege to share a classroom with the talented, energetic, and dedicated students who truly are the hope of our future.”
Throughout her career, she has combined practical experience with a commitment to legal education and public service. She most recently served as acting assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy for the U.S. Department of Justice, where she had worked since 2021.
She maintained a distinguished career in private practice, serving as a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis, in Washington, D.C., from 2011 to 2021, where she advised clients on complex legal, regulatory, and governmental matters.
During the Obama administration, Davies served in the Executive Office of the President, joining as associate counsel in 2009 before being promoted to deputy White House counsel the following year. In that role, she advised the president and senior administration officials on a wide range of legal and policy matters.
Prior to joining the White House, Davies served as general counsel and chief counsel for intellectual property for Sen. Patrick J. Leahy in the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; as senior counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division; and as a litigation associate at the Sidley & Austin law firm in Chicago. Earlier in her career, she served in the Clinton White House, contributing to legal and policy initiatives across a range of issues.
Davies earned a B.S. from Yale University in 1986 and received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1991. After law school, she held judicial clerkships, serving first for then-Judge Stephen Breyer ’64 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and later for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy ’61.
Want to stay up to date with Harvard Law Today? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.