James Diamond

James D. Diamond is the Interim Director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program and Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

In 2021-2022 Diamond was Visiting Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island. He taught Federal Indian Law, Tribal Courts, Law & Governments, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure there.

Diamond is the former Director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program's Tribal Justice Clinic at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (2016-2019). Diamond taught the Tribal Justice Clinic, Tribal Courts/Tribal Law, and both Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure in the B.A. in Law degree program there.

From 2017-2019 Diamond was a Special Prosecutor in the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court in Arizona. 

Diamond is the Dean of Academic Affairs at The National Tribal Trial College (NTTC) where he trains victim advocates who work in Tribal Courts in domestic and sexual violence cases. He has been on the faculty of the NTTC since 2016.

Prior to teaching, Dr. Diamond practiced law for 25 years in Connecticut. He achieved success as a criminal attorney as both a state prosecutor and a defense attorney. Diamond is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a criminal trial specialist, has extensive criminal trial experience and was the lead lawyer in more than 1,000 criminal cases.

Dr. Diamond's academic research focuses on the aftermath of heinous crime and restorative justice. He is the author of the 2019 book: After The Bloodbath: Is Healing Possible in The Wake of Rampage Shootings? The book looks at the phenomenon of mass shootings and compares social and legal responses in indigenous communities and non-indigenous communities. Diamond is the coauthor of Introduction to Criminal Law, A Contemporary Approach. He is the author of numerous articles on the practice of criminal law in Tribal Courts.

Dr. Diamond is admitted to practice law in numerous Tribal Courts, the States of Connecticut, Arizona, and New York and numerous federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Diamond obtained a doctoral degree (S.J.D.) in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy from the University of Arizona College of Law, a juris doctor (J.D.) from Brooklyn Law School and a bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from The State University of New York at Albany. 

Curriculum Vitae

SSRN Published Papers

Representative List of Publications

• After the Bloodbath:  Is Healing Possible in the Wake of Rampage Shootings (2019)
• In The Aftermath of Rampage Shootings: Is Healing Possible? Hard Lessons Learned From The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and Other Indigenous Peoples, Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives, Vol. 11:101 (2019).
• An Overview of Practicing American Indian Criminal Law in Federal, State and Tribal Courts, and an Update about Recent Expansion of Criminal Jurisdiction over Non-Indians, Fed. Law., Apr. 2018, at 18.
• Practicing Indian Law in Federal, State and Tribal Criminal Courts, and an Update about Recent Expansion of Criminal Jurisdiction over Non-Indians, 32 Crim. Just., Winter 2018, at 8.
• Complete List of Publications

Education

Work Experience