Hafemeister received his J.D. with Distinction from the University of Nebraska Law School in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 1988 from the University of Nebraska joint J.D./Ph.D. degree program. After graduating from law school, he worked as Assistant Counsel in the Litigation Division of Counsel's Office for the Office of Mental Health, State of New York. Subsequently, he became a Senior Staff Attorney/Research Associate in the Research Division of the National Center for State Courts and was a member of its Institute on Mental Disability and the Law. During this time, he was also an Adjunct Professor at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William and Mary, where he taught a Mental Health Law seminar and Legal Skills. He was then for two years a Research Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska where he taught and conducted research on public health law and the public health system and for two years was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he taught courses on health law and medical malpractice. Prior to joining the Institute, he was the Managing Editor for the American Health Lawyers Association.