Susan Biniaz is currently the U.S. Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate.  A former Deputy Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department, she was the lead climate lawyer for the U.S. government from 1989 to early 2017. She also worked on a wide variety of other subjects during her time at the State Department, including legal issues related to U.S. treaty practice, outer space, law of the sea, the environment, Somali piracy, the Middle East, Europe, the Western Hemisphere, law enforcement, human rights, and private international law.