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 New York’s Counsel's Office for the Office of Mental Health. 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 & 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.