Susan Biniaz

  • Lecturer in Law

Susan Biniaz '83 has been in the legal adviser’s office at the State Department since 1984.

She has been the principal lawyer on the climate change negotiations since 1989. Biniaz has worked on legal issues related to the Middle East, diplomatic law, and outer space before turning to oceans, environmental, and scientific affairs, which has remained her specialization. After heading the legal Office for European Affairs, she headed the Oceans, Environment, and Science legal office for many years before becoming a deputy legal adviser.

As deputy, she supervised the Treaty Office and issues related to the law of the sea, human rights, the Western Hemisphere, piracy off the coast of Somalia, law enforcement, and private international law.

She clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Biniaz attended Yale College and earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School.