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Kristen van de Biezenbos

Kristen van de Biezenbos

Professor of Law

Phone
(619) 525-1475
Department
Faculty

Biography

Prof. van de Biezenbos teaches and writes on energy law, environmental law, and sustainability. Her research has two streams: the first is centered on community-level impacts of energy projects and issues of environmental justice, and the second is concerned with electricity law and the legal dimensions of deep decarbonization. Before joining the faculty, she was an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law and Haskayne School of Business. She has also taught at the University of Oklahoma College of Law and Texas Tech University School of Law. 

Her work has been published in both U.S. and Canadian law journals, including Washington University Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Tulane Law Review, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, and the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law, among others. While at the University of Calgary, Prof. van de Biezenbos was a regulator contributor on energy and environmental matters on CBC radio, has presented her work to both provincial and federal energy regulators, and was awarded the 2023 teaching excellence award by the Energy & Environmental Engineering Students Society. She regularly appears in print, radio, and broadcast media to discuss developments in U.S. and Canadian energy policy. 

Before joining academia, Prof. van de Biezenbos had a mixed transactional and litigation practice in New Orleans, focused on offshore energy, maritime law, and international law. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Tulane University Law School and interned for the honorable Judge Lance Africk at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. From 2013 to 2015, she was a Westerfield Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. She also holds a B.A. from the University of Tennessee and an M.F.A. from the University of New Orleans. 

  • JD, Tulane University School of Law (magna cum laude, Dean’s Scholar)
  • MFA, University of New Orleans (Creative Writing)
  • BA, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (English & Anthropology, with honors)
  • Energy & Climate Change
  • Environmental Law
  • Property

Law Review Articles (2015 - Present)

  • Climate Proof Electricity, 2025 Utah Law Review __ (forthcoming 2025)
  • The Case Against Regional Transmission Monopolies, 101 Washington University Law Review 69 (2023).
  • Lost in Transmission: A Constitutional Approach to Achieving a Nationwide Net Zero Electricity System, 59 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 629 (peer reviewed, 2022).  
  • The Rebirth of Social Licence, 14 McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law 157 (peer reviewed, 2019).
  • Contracted Fracking, 92 Tulane Law Review 587 (2018).
  • Negotiating Energy Democracy, 33 Florida State University Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law 331 (symposium piece, 2018).
  • Enforcing Private Environmental Governance Through Community Contracts, 9 George Washington Journal of Energy & Environmental Law 45 (symposium piece, 2018).
  • Where Oil is King, 85 Fordham Law Review 1631 (2017).
  • A Sea Change in Creditor Priorities, 48 Michigan Journal of Law Reform 595 (2015). 

Other Publications

  • “Alberta Needs a Greener Grid but Access Fees Could Swamp Us If We Don't Fix the System”, op-ed, CBC News (June 06, 2022).
  • “When Social License and Sovereignty Collide on First Nations Lands in Canada,” in The Palgrave Handbook on Social License to Operate and Energy Transitions (Palgrave, 2022). 
  • “Alberta Court of Appeal Rules on Role of Honour of the Crown and Reconciliation in AUC Rate Applications”, ABlawg post (Oct. 26, 2021).
  • “Running on Empty”, Law Matters (Canadian Bar Association National Magazine, Mar. 23, 2021)
  • “A 40-Year-Old Treaty Could Save Line 5” (with James Coleman), CD Howe Institute Intelligence Memo (Feb. 17, 2021).
  • “Yes He Can: Joe Biden’s Power to Stop Pipelines” (with James Coleman), CD Howe Institute Intelligence Memo (Dec. 8, 2020).
  • “Energy, Technology & The Environment” (with Allan Ingleson), in Environmental Law & Policy, 4th ed. (Sara Bagg, Alastair Lucas, et al., eds., Emond, 2020). 
  • “Regulation of Low Carbon Energy Sources in North America”, inWorld Handbook on Energy Law (Tina Hunter, ed., Routledge, 2020). 
  • Foreword, Sunken Treasure: Preserving Underwater Cultural Heritage, 49 Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce 367, 367 (2018).
  • “Your Concerns Have Been Noted: Citizen Participation in Pipeline Regulatory Processes Under the Proposed Impact Assessment Act,” ABlawg (28 February 2018).
  • U.S. Oil & Gas Law Update, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (2016).
  • “Recourse Under Rule B: The Peculiar Problem of Maritime Attachments Under U.S. Law”, in Charterparties: Indemnities, Recourse, and Collaterals (Filippo Lorenzon, Ed., Routledge, 2014)