Hayden Deffarges is a Legal Assistant in the New York office of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, a national law firm with offices in the District of Columbia, New York, California, and Tennessee. They received their B.A. in History and Comparative Literature with Honors from Brown University.

At Brown, Hayden wrote a senior Honors thesis in History entitled “‘Riotous Living’: Gender, Morality, and the Crucible of Culture in Gold Rush San Francisco.” They held a multi-year research position investigating exclusionary housing policy and property taxation in the U.S. In 2025, their work in the department was honored with the Marjorie Harris Weiss Memorial Prize for the Outstanding Undergraduate in History. They also served as the senior editor for the Brown Political Review, managed the student-run Underground Coffee Company, taught in Providence public schools, and led backpacking trips in the White Mountains with Brown Outdoor Leadership Training.

Before joining Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, Hayden worked at Brownstein Legal, P.C., where they assisted clients in pre-litigation claims for false arrest, excessive police force, and malicious prosecution. They worked with incarcerated clients on Rikers Island, helping to secure compensation for civil rights violations that occurred in custody. They have worked on numerous local and national political campaigns, including as a Voter Protection Fellow on the Biden 2020 campaign.

Hayden hopes to attend law school in the future.