Jaron Goddard
Jaron is an associate in the Seattle office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she is a member of the firm’s energy and climate solutions practice. She works on a broad range of project development and regulatory issues affecting the solar, wind, hydroelectric, energy storage, energy efficiency, distributed energy resources, electric vehicle, and other renewable energy industries.
Prior to joining the firm, Jaron served as chief counsel and climate policy advisor to Assistant Majority Leader Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) in Washington, D.C. In this role, she counseled Senator Murray on energy and environmental matters as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Jaron led the development of the Clean School Bus Act on behalf of Senator Murray in the 117thCongress, which was successfully included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA); this bill authorized a new, five-billion-dollar program at the Environmental Protection Agency to spur the nationwide transition of nearly 500,000 diesel school buses to EVs.
Working in collaboration with White House and federal agency counterparts, Jaron played a key role as a U.S. Senate staffer during the negotiations of the IIJA, Build Back Better, the National Defense Authorization Act, and annual appropriations bills. She led efforts on behalf of the senator to secure billions of dollars across a broad range of matters, including Congressionally directed spending for renewable energy and transmission projects, defense nuclear clean-up, advanced nuclear, low-income electric and water utility assistance, and grid storage development and modernization.
In addition, Jaron led the senator’s federal judicial nominations work. In doing so, she led a novel selection process for the senator that was heralded by the House Judiciary Committee and CNN as a nationwide model. Jaron managed the appointment of the 10-member merit selection committee, background investigations of judicial candidates, selection process in conjunction with the White House Counsel’s office, and successful Senate confirmation of these candidates. This nominations work included the selection of a Ninth Circuit judge, and the successful appointment and confirmation of the entire active status bench in the Western District of Washington.
During law school, Jaron was appointed by Washington state Governor Inslee to the University of Washington Board of Regents, where she oversaw a $7.6 billion dollar budget, capital expenditures, bonds, mergers and acquisitions, and federal, state, and local compliance obligations. Before law school, Jaron worked as a consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala as a food security and sustainability volunteer.