Biography
Diana Neeves, a member of the firm’s Environmental, Energy + Telecommunications Group, focuses her practice on environmental, energy, land use, and telecommunications law.
Litigation
Diana handles litigation related to environmental and land use matters. She represents clients in disputes brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and handles litigation involving chemical contamination and exposure. Her litigation experience involves federal and state environmental enforcement actions and lawsuits between private parties. She is a regular contributor to the firm's Environmental Law + blog.
Diana also helps defend municipalities nationwide in cases involving the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and regularly writes on the topic for another one of the firm's blogs, RLUIPA Defense.
Environment and Energy
Diana regularly works with clients on the clean-up of contaminated properties, including Superfund sites. She assists clients with federal and state administrative compliance, including environmental remediation. She also helps clients evaluate, manage, and limit environmental risk associated with business and property transactions.
Diana is part of the firm’s Utilities Group, which serves utility and energy clients on regulatory and environmental matters. She provides a range of transactional and compliance services. She helps clients navigate all local, state and federal permitting requirements, and works to ensure they are in compliance with all regulations. She has worked with clients on energy and conservation matters in hearings before the New York State Public Service Commission.
Land Use
Diana provides guidance to clients seeking local zoning approvals. She counsels them on meeting requirements for land development and securing necessary municipal and state permits to do so.
Pro Bono
She was one of several Robinson+Cole attorneys involved in pro bono projects to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking in Africa and Southeast Asia. During law school, as part of the New York State Pro Bono Scholars Program, Diana was a Pro Bono Scholar in the Criminal Law Special Litigation Unit of the Legal Aid Society.
Prior to joining Robinson+Cole, Diana was a judicial honors extern for a United States District Judge in the Southern District of New York. She also worked as a legal intern for an organization focused on water quality and related issues. She received a fellowship grant to provide nonprofit environmental legal services.