Melissa Hoffer
Faculty Directory

Melissa Hoffer

Titles

  • Incoming President

Degrees

  • JD, Northeastern University School of Law
  • MEd, University of Massachusetts
  • BA, Hampshire College

Biography

Melissa Hoffer was announced as Vermont Law and Graduate School’s incoming president on August 27, 2026. Her presidency will begin on December 1, 2026. Learn more by clicking here.

Most recently, in her role as Massachusetts’ first ever climate chief—a position created by Governor Maura Healey in 2023 on the first day of her administration to advise on climate matters and develop related policy—Hoffer advanced a whole-of-government approach to policymaking and implementation while leading teams across state agencies.

She is a former appointee in the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration who served as acting general counsel and principal deputy general counsel.

Hoffer previously worked in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office as Chief of the Environmental Protection Division beginning in 2012 and was named Chief of AG Healey’s newly formed Energy and Environment Bureau in 2015.

Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, she held senior roles at the Conservation Law Foundation and practiced for many years as a litigator and environmental lawyer at WilmerHale. Hoffer also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander, Boston Federal District Court.

She received a juris doctor from Northeastern University School of Law, a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, and bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College.

In her spare time, she raises a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats.

Expertise

  • Energy Law and Regulation
  • Environmental Law
  • State and Government Law