About Danielle J.
Danielle J. Diamond combines training in law, anthropology and environmental studies. She earned a J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law in 2003, an M.A. in Applied Environmental Anthropology with High Honors from Northern Illinois University in 2007, and a Bachelor of Integrative Studies in Anthropology, Archaeology and English from Weber State University in 1997. Those academic choices shaped a career that moves between litigation, policy work and teaching.
Her legal career began soon after law school. She joined Diamond & LeSueur, P.C. as an associate in 2004. That year also marks her admission to the Illinois bar, and she is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Over the next decade she shifted toward roles that blended research, advocacy and organizational leadership.
In 2009 she worked with the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project in several capacities, including executive and research positions and field operations. Her work there drew on her background in anthropology and environmental studies and often involved combining on-the-ground research with legal and policy analysis. In 2007 she served as a research associate in the Department of Anthropology at Northern Illinois University, continuing a thread of academic inquiry that runs through her career.
In 2021 she was a visiting fellow at the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School. The fellowship brought her into conversations about animal law, policy development and interdisciplinary research. She moved into teaching roles in 2023, serving as an adjunct professor of law at both Vermont Law and Graduate School and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Those appointments reflect a practice that bridges classroom instruction and practical legal work.
Today she is of counsel at Diamond Legal P.C. Her résumé mixes litigation experience from early in her career with years of policy, research and teaching assignments. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar since 2004 and remains active in the legal community there.
Her work often addresses legal questions that intersect with agriculture, animal law and environmental concerns, informed by academic research and field experience. She balances client work with occasional teaching and speaking engagements. She currently practices of counsel at Diamond Legal P.C., where her practice concentrates on matters involving agriculture, animal law and related policy issues.
