Nikki Buffa provides environmental counseling in all areas of environmental law with a particular focus on the siting of major infrastructure projects, the energy transition and renewable energy, stakeholder engagement, and crisis management.
As partner, Nikki brings two decades of experience working on energy and environmental policy. Nikki has focused her career on regulatory compliance and federal and California-state environmental policy, involving a diverse range of infrastructure clients related to renewable energy resources, environmental diligence, and land use entitlements.
Nikki currently advises developers, utilities, other clients on all aspects of project development from initial permitting and entitlement strategy through governmental approvals incorporating legal, political, community, and public relations issues. Her experience with landscape-level land and species management ranges from deep marine environments to the high desert. She currently serves on the boards of the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Advisory Board of the University of California at Berkeley Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity.
In 2020–2021, Nikki served on the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition team as the White House Council on Environmental Quality Transition Team Lead.
Nikki rejoined Latham after serving eight years in the Obama Administration, most recently as Deputy Chief of Staff at the United States Department of the Interior.
Prior to joining the Department of the Interior, Nikki was the Deputy Director of Cabinet Affairs at the White House. Here, she worked closely with senior White House staff and agency leadership to advance the President’s policy and regulatory priorities at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Energy and Transportation.
In 2009, after serving on the 2008 Presidential campaign and Presidential Transition Team, Nikki became the Deputy Chief of Staff, then later Associate Director, for the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House. Nikki helped develop and implement the Administration’s policies on clean energy, transportation, and environmental and human health protection.
Nikki ’s representative experience includes advising on the following legislative and regulatory matters:
Nikki has extensive experience guiding complex conservation projects to successful outcomes throughout the United States. She is versed in California and federal policy development and legislative and regulatory activities, including analysis and drafting of legislative language and testimony, and preparing and commenting on rules and other agency initiatives.
Before entering the legal field, Nikki began her career at the EPA, where she spent five years in the agency’s Region IX office conducting enforcement actions against a wide range of noncompliant facilities as a federal inspector.
Honored for pro bono work to preserve the legacy of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley.
Pro bono team praised for its work preserving sites related to the murder of Emmett Till.
San Diego partner Michael Carroll and Orange County counsel Nikki Buffa speak about their award-winning work advising The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit seeking to fight pollution in the world’s waters.
