Kimberly E. Diamond

fls

Adjunct Professor of Law

[email protected]

Kim Diamond is a recognized leader in the legal, energy, and environmental communities areas and is a thought leader in the renewable energy, smart cities, and energy policy areas.

As a practicing attorney, Kim’s experience spans many sectors and practice areas. At the confluence of law, science, technology, and energy policy, Kim is involved in cutting-edge initiatives relating to offshore wind, benchmarking commercial buildings’ energy efficiency and water usage, electric vehicles, solar energy, and various other clean energy sectors.  Her experience in the private sector includes being a transactional lawyer with a background in securitization, structured finance, and secured lending. She has worked at large international law firms, representing domestic and international commercial banks, financial institutions, asset managers, funds, sponsors, large corporations, and others in numerous complex multi-million and multi-billion dollar CMBS, ABS, and RMBS securitizations, as well as structured finance, leveraged finance, and other complex financing transactions (including CLOs) in the public and private markets, both domestically and internationally. She also possesses in-house as well as government experience, serving as in-house counsel at Credit Suisse, a global investment bank, where she covered the Fixed Income desk, and serving in state government with respect to the launch of novel programs.

Demonstrating how teaching takes place both inside and outside the classroom, Kim has taught law students and practicing lawyers alike, from classroom, law firm, and podium settings.  For roughly a decade, Kim has enthusiastically taught courses such as Energy Law to upper-level Fordham Law School JD and LLM students.  Her course format has enabled students located in the U.S. and abroad to simultaneously attend her class sessions, offering students in her course a platform facilitating a truly global exchange of ideas.  In private law firm practice, she has mentored teams of law students from NYU Law School’s Law and Social Entrepreneurship Association throughout the course of their representation of small business owners from Rising Tide Capital’s entrepreneurs program for start-up companies.  She regularly participates as a speaker in national and international conferences, sharing her knowledge on cutting-edge topics with the broader legal, renewable energy, and environmental communities. Venues at which she has spoken include the British Consulate General – New York, Columbia Business School, and the American Clean Power Association’s (f/k/a American Wind Energy Association’s) WINDPOWER Conferences.

With respect to scholarship, Kim regularly publishes on offshore wind, onshore wind, solar power, smart cities, green building climate change, energy efficiency, finance, and other topics. Her articles have appeared in prestigious law reviews, journals, and trade publications. The United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, among other places, has cited her work. Additionally, the first legal textbook of its kind on renewable energy law, Renewable Energy Law, Policy and Practice (Troy A. Rule, 2018), includes a selection from one of her recent law review articles on wind rights and wake effect impacts.

Kim has held various senior leadership positions within the clean energy sector. Within the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) Section of Environment, Energy & Resources, she served as Chair of the award-winning Renewable, Alternative, and Distributed Energy Resources (RADER) Committee as well as Co-Chair of the Special Committee on Congressional Relations. She also served as Chair of the Tri-State Area Chapter of Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE, f/k/a Women of Wind Energy).  On the local level, Kim is a Co-Chair of her local environmental commission and is a former Chair of the regional “hub” of environmental commissioners and Green Team members from municipalities throughout her county.

Kim’s accomplishments have been recognized on international, national, and statewide levels. Internationally, she has been recognized on United Kingdom-based A Word About Wind’s Legal Power List 2016 as one of the Top 100 lawyers working in wind globally.  Nationally, in addition to leading her ABA RADER Committee to win several awards, she herself received WRISE’s Mentor of the Year Award during this award’s inaugural year, for her role as a mentor to a renewable energy finance graduate student located in the Netherlands.  On the state level, Sustainable Jersey named Kim as a statewide “Sustainability Hero.”  Also, the Adopt-A Drain Program, Thin Film Plastics Recycling Program, and the Vegan Fest that she designed and led as grassroots initiatives each received statewide Environmental Achievement Awards from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC).  Additionally, she led the sustainability-focused non-profit that she founded to receive a New Jersey Clean Communities Council’s Volunteer Award.

Research and Teaching Areas

Energy Law; Energy Policy; Energy Efficiency; Smart Cities Development and Policy; Environmental Law; Renewable Energy; Sustainability and Sustainable Development; Finance and Structured Finance.

Education

J.D., Cornell Law School, Ithaca, NY, 1998
A.B. with Honors in English and Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1989

  • Books and Book Chapters

    Wind Energy Property and Land Use Issues:  Wind Turbine Wake Interference" in RENEWABLE ENERGY LAW, POLICY AND PRACTICE (Troy A. Rule, ed., West Academic Publishing, 2018).

    Grouted Connections, Hurricanes, and the Evolving U.S. Offshore Wind Industry:  Are Cutting-Edge Scientific and Engineering Technologies Sufficient to Meet Potentially Unrealistic Standards? in OFFSHORE WIND:  TECHNOLOGIES, ECOLOGICAL RISKS AND PROSPECTS (Chester Mendoza, ed., Nova Science Publishers, 2015).

    Law Reviews, Academic Journals, and Professional Journals

    Footfall and Social Media v. Concentrated Solar Power:  When the Power of Choice in a Behavior-Based Economy Can be More Potent than the Power of the Sun, 27 FORDHAM ENVTL. L. REV. (In Press, Spring 2017).

    Wake Effects, Wind Rights, and Wind Turbines:  Why Science, Constitutional Rights, and Public Policy Issues Play a Crucial Role, 40 WM. & MARY ENVTL. L. AND POL’Y REV. 813 (2016),
    http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmelpr/vol40/iss3/5/.

    Field Report, Technology, Curtailment, and Transmission:  Innovations and Challenges Facing Today’s U.S. Wind Energy, 41 COLUM. J. ENVTL. L., 1 (April 6, 2016), http://columbiaenvironmentallaw.org/articles/technology-curtailment-and-transmission-innovations-and-challenges-facing-today-s-u-s-wind-energy.

    Commercial Real Estate CLOs:  Features that Make Them an Attractive Asset Class, 20 J. STRUCTURED FIN. 36 (2014).

    Wind Turbine Wakes, Wake Effect Impacts, and Wind Leases:  Using Solar Access Laws as the Model for Capitalizing on Wind Rights During the Evolution of Wind Policy Standards (co-author), 22 DUKE ENVTL. L. & POL’Y F. 195 (2011), 
    http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1192&context=delpf
    (Cited by the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, in Circuit Judge Posner’s Opinion in Muscarello v. Winnebago County Board, 702 F.3d 909, 911 (7th Cir. 2012); Selected for inclusion in compilation of the most important and timely articles on computers, technology, and the law in Bibliography & Cumulative Index:  Forty-Third Selected Bibliography on Computers, Technology and the Law, § 10.6.0, Environmental Law – General, 38 RUTGERS COMPUTER & TECH. L. J. 277, 402 (2012).)

    New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Economic Development Act:  Language of Forward-Looking Legislation Presents Opportunities for Potential Challenges and Claims, 22 ENVTL. CLAIMS J. 287 (2010).

    Cryogenics, Frozen Embryos, and the Need for New Means of Regulation:  Why the U.S. is Frozen in its Current Approach, 11 N.Y. INT’L L. REV. 287 (1998).

    Professional Publications

    Early Post-Brexit Considerations for International Business (co-author), DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP WHITE PAPER (August 2016).

    Innovation Clusters:  Drivers of Cutting-Edge Technologies for Our Energy Future, RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD (July 29, 2016), http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/07/innovation-clusters-drivers-of-cutting-edge-technologies-for-our-energy-future.html. 

    Illegal Cartel Sheds Light on Antitrust Importance (co-author), NORTH AMERICAN WINDPOWER, Vol. 11, No. 8 (August 2014), at 9.

    The Implications of Muscarello v. Winnebago County Board:  Are Setback Limits, Scientific Findings, and Legislative Activism a Downwind Landowner’s Only Protections Against Wind Wake Effects?, TERRA FIRMA (Fall 2013), at 24.

    Wake Effects and Wind Rights:  The Scientific Background and Legal Protections that Land Professionals Need to Know, Conference Paper, REALTORS® LAND INSTITUTE’S 2013 NATIONAL LAND CONFERENCE, Las Vegas, NV (March 19, 2013).

    Weighing Public Data Sharing Against Private Data Ownership To Expedite Offshore Wind in the US, NORTH AMERICAN CLEAN ENERGY, Vol. 6, Issue 5 (September/October 2012), at 42.

    Extreme Weather Impacts on Offshore Wind Turbines:  Lessons Learned, NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 27, Number 2 (Fall 2012).

    The Nonoccurrence of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (co-author), ENERGY LAW 360, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 360, and INSURANCE LAW 360 (Jan. 26, 2012), www.law360.com/articles/301271/the-nonoccurrence-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions; reprinted in ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS AND FINANCE COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER, Vol. 3, No. 1 (June 2012).

    N.J. Proposal Lays Out Needed Framework:  Gov. Christie’s Energy Master Plan Recognizes the Economic Development Attributes of Offshore Wind, NORTH AMERICAN WINDPOWER, Vol. 9, No. 2 (March 2012), at 18.

    What New Jersey’s RGGI Withdrawal Really Means, NORTH AMERICAN WINDPOWER, Vol. 8, No. 8 (September 2011), at 46.

    Global Warming’s Impact on Wind Speeds:  Long-Term Risks for Wind Farms May Impact Guarantees and Wind Derivatives Tied to Wind Energy Production, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA), SECTION OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY & RESOURCES (SEER) 40TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PAPER, Salt Lake City, UT (March 18, 2011).

    New Jersey ORECs to Spur Offshore Wind Development:  The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act Aims to Benefit Businesses and Manufacturing Through Specially Created Tax Credits, first OFFSHORE WIND (Fall 2010) supplement to NORTH AMERICAN WINDPOWER, Vol. 7, No. 9 (October 2010), at 16.

    Why Offshore Wind is Viable for Northeastern, East Central Coastal States, ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER, Vol. 88, Issue 4 (August 2010), at 44, http://www.elp.com/index/display/elp-article-tool-template/_printArticle/articles/electic-light-power/volume-88/issue-4/sections/-why_offshore_wind.html.

    Renewable Energy Alert:  New Jersey Enacts the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act, LOWENSTEIN SANDLER’S RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWSLETTER (August 19, 2010).

    Capitalizing on Wind Rights During the Evolution of Wind Policy Standards (co-author), Paper Accompanying Poster Presentation, AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION’S (AWEA’s) WINDPOWER 2010 CONFERENCE, Dallas, Texas (May 24, 2010).

    The U.S. Can Learn from European Offshore Ops, NORTH AMERICAN WINDPOWER, Vol. 7, No. 4 (May 2010), at 192.

    Alternative Energy for New Jersey:  The Benefits of Wind Power Development Over the Long Term (co-author), Paper Accompanying Presentation, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF NEW JERSEY EDUCATION FUND CONFERENCE (April 8, 2010), http://www.lwvnj.org/alternativeenergy/wind.pdf.

    Federal Loan Guarantees, Grants, Tax Law Modifications, and the Economy’s Impact on Wind Power Project Financing, ENERGY COMMITTEES NEWSLETTER, Vol. 7, No. 2 (January 2010).

    First RGGI Carbon Allowance Auction Hits a Home Run, NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 23, Issue 4 (Spring 2009) (Reprinted in The Best Articles Published by the ABA, 26 GPSOLO MAGAZINE 32 (2009).)

    Give New Applications of Piezoelectric Power a Chance:  Technological Innovations from Evolving Alternative Energy Area Offer Opportunities in the Environmental and Finance Markets, CLIMATE CHANGE, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, AND ECOSYSTEMS COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER, Vol. 12, No. 3 (July 2009); INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER, Vol. 11, No. 2 (July 2009); and SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW’S ENVIRONMENTAL LAW COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER, Vol. 2, No. 2 (July 2009).

    Breakthroughs in Piezoelectric Power:  Raising Public Awareness is a Step in the Right Direction for U.S. Sustainable Development, ENERGYPULSE (April 17, 2009), http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=2012.

    Bankruptcy’s Breath of Life (co-author), AMERICAN SECURITIZATION, Vol. 2, Issue 2 (Summer/Fall 2008).

    SEC Expands Eligibility Requirements of Form S-3 and F-3 to Include Smaller Reporting Companies (co-author), DERIVATIVES:  FINANCIAL PRODUCTS REPORT, Vol. 9, No.7 (March 2008).

    Articles

    A. FINANCE AND STRUCTURED FINANCE

    • Author, “Commercial Real Estate CLOs:  Features that Make Them an Attractive Asset Class,” The Journal of Structured Finance, Vol. 20, No. 3, Fall 2014, p 36.

    • Author, “Federal Loan Guarantees, Grants, Tax Law Modifications, and the Economy’s Impact on Wind Power Project Financing,” Energy Committees Newsletter, Vol. 7, No. 2 (January 2010).

    • Co-author, “Bankruptcy’s Breath of Life,” American Securitization, Vol. 2, Issue 2 (Summer/Fall 2008).

    • Co-author, “SEC Expands Eligibility Requirements of Form S-3 and F-3 to Include Smaller Reporting Companies,” Derivatives:  Financial Products Report, Vol. 9, No.7 (March 2008).


    B.  ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE WIND

    • Co-Author, “Illegal Cartel Sheds Light on Antitrust Importance,” North American Windpower, Vol. 11, No. 8 (August 2014), p. 9.

    • Author, “The Implications of Muscarello v. Winnebago County Board:  Are Setback Limits, Scientific Findings, and Legislative Activism a Downwind Landowner’s Only Protections Against Wind Wake Effects?,” Terra Firma, Fall 2013, p. 24.

    • Author, “Wake Effects and Wind Rights:  The Scientific Background and Legal Protections that Land Professionals Need to Know,” REALTORS® Land Institute’s 2013 National Land Conference,  Las Vegas, NV (March 19, 2013).

    • Author, “Weighing Public Data Sharing Against Private Data Ownership To Expedite Offshore Wind in the US,” North American Clean Energy, Vol. 6, Issue 5 (September/October 2012), p. 42.

    • Author, “N.J. Proposal Lays Out Needed Framework:  Gov. Christie’s Energy Master Plan Recognizes the Economic Development Attributes of Offshore Wind,” North American Windpower, Vol. 9, No. 2 (March 2012), p. 18.

    • Co-Author, “Wind Turbine Wakes, Wake Effect Impacts, and Wind Leases:  Using Solar Access Laws as the Model for Capitalizing on Wind Rights During the Evolution of Wind Policy Standards,” Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum, Vol. 22, No. 1(Fall 2011), p. 195.  (This article was cited by the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, in Circuit Judge Posner’s Opinion in Muscarello v. Winnebago County Board, 702 F.3d 909, 911 (7th Cir. 2012).)

    • Author, “New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Economic Development Act:  Language of Forward-Looking Legislation Presents Opportunities for Potential Challenges and Claims,” Environmental Claims Journal, Vol. 22, No. 4 (October-December 2010).

    • Author, “New Jersey ORECs to Spur Offshore Wind Development:  The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act Aims to Benefit Businesses and Manufacturing Through Specially Created Tax Credits,” first Offshore Wind (Fall 2010) supplement to North American Windpower, Vol. 7, No. 9 (October 2010), p. 16.

    • Author, “Why Offshore Wind is Viable for Northeastern, East Central Coastal States,” Electric Light & Power, Vol. 88, Issue 4 (August 2010), p. 44; http://www.elp.com/index/display/elp-article-tool-template/_printArticle/articles/electic-light-power/volume-88/issue-4/sections/-why_offshore_wind.html.

    • Author, “Renewable Energy Alert:  New Jersey Enacts the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act,” Lowenstein Sandler’s Renewable Energy Newsletter (August 19, 2010).

    • Co-Author, “Capitalizing on Wind Rights During the Evolution of Wind Policy Standards,” AWEA’s WINDPOWER 2010 Conference, Paper Accompanying Poster Presentation, Dallas, Texas (May 24, 2010).

    • Author, “The U.S. Can Learn from European Offshore Ops,” North American Windpower, Vol. 7, No. 4 (May 2010), p. 192.

    • Co-Author, “Alternative Energy for New Jersey:  The Benefits of Wind Power Development Over the Long Term,” League of Women Voters of New Jersey Education Fund (April 8, 2010), 


    C. CLIMATE CHANGE, EXTREME WEATHER, AND CARBON EMISSIONS AND REGULATION

    • Author, “Extreme Weather Impacts on Offshore Wind Turbines:  Lessons Learned,” Natural Resources & Environment, Vol. 27, Number 2, Fall 2012.

    • Co-Author, “The Nonoccurrence of Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Energy Law 360, Environmental Law 360, and Insurance Law 360 (Jan. 26, 2012), www.law360.com/articles/301271/the-nonoccurrence-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions; reprinted in Energy and Environmental Markets and Finance Committee Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 1 (June 2012).

    • Author, “What New Jersey’s RGGI Withdrawal Really Means,” North American Windpower, Vol. 8, No. 8 (September 2011), p. 46.

    • Author, “Global Warming’s Impact on Wind Speeds:  Long-Term Risks for Wind Farms May Impact Guarantees and Wind Derivatives Tied to Wind Energy Production,” 40th Annual Conference on Environmental Law, ABA SEER, Salt Lake City, UT (March 18, 2011).

    • Author, “First RGGI Carbon Allowance Auction Hits a Home Run,” Natural Resources & Environment, Vol. 23, Issue 4 (Spring 2009); reprinted in “The Best Articles Published by the ABA” issue of GPSolo Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 6 (September 2009).


    D. OTHER TECHNOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS

    • Author, “Give New Applications of Piezoelectric Power a Chance:  Technological Innovations from Evolving Alternative Energy Area Offer Opportunities in the Environmental and Finance Markets,” Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee Newsletter, Vol. 12, No. 3 (July 2009); International Environmental Law Committee Newsletter, Vol. 11, No. 2 (July 2009); and Section of International Law’s Environmental Law Committee Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 2 (July 2009).

    • Author, “Breakthroughs in Piezoelectric Power:  Raising Public Awareness is a Step in the Right Direction for U.S. Sustainable Development,” EnergyPulse (April 17, 2009), 

    • Author, “Cryogenics, Frozen Embryos, and the Need for New Means of Regulation:  Why the U.S. is Frozen in its Current Approach,” New York International Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer 1998).

     

Mailing Address

Fordham University School of Law
Legal Writing Program
150 West 62nd Street, Room 7-175
New York, NY 10023