Diane E. Ambler

Chambers USA has ranked Diane as a top lawyer practicing in the areas of Investment Funds, Registered Funds, and she is listed in Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America^® for Mutual Funds and Private Funds Law. She has an AV Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell, reserved for lawyers who have reached the height of professional excellence, usually having practiced law for many years and who have been recognized for having the highest levels of skill and integrity; and is listed in Martindale-Hubbell^® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™, exclusively for women attorneys who have received the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards from their peers. Diane appears in the Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law as an outstanding practitioner in Investment Funds law.

Diane has practiced corporate securities law in the Washington, D.C., area since 1979. She served as a Law Clerk to The Honorable Charles Clark, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1978-1979.

• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America^® for Mutual Funds Law and Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law, 2006-2023

• Member, The American Law Institute
• Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University School of Law, LL.M. (through 2020)
  Program, “Evolution of Financial Products Regulation,” previously “Financial Products in the New Regulatory Environment” and “Securities Activities of Banks and Insurance Companies”
• Chair, Board of Consultors, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
• Executive Board, Mutual Fund Directors Forum
• Executive Board, National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL)
• Executive Board, Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF)
• Subcommittee on Investment Companies and Investment Advisers, American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Business Law, Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities (past chair)
• Committee on Developments in Investment Services, ABA, Section of Business Law (past chair)
• Executive Council, Federal Bar Association, Securities Law Committee (past president)
• Variable Insurance Products Committee, FINRA (discontinued advisory committee)
• ABA Retirement Funds Board of Directors (past Investment Committee chair, past Executive Committee member)

• “Women as Leaders: A New Mindset,” University of Rochester, Discussions on Topical Challenges Series, September 2018
• “Investment Companies: Regulatory Policies and Risk Management after Third Avenue,” Columbia Law School 2016 Annual Securities Regulation Conference, April 2016
• "2016 Women in Leadership: The Evolving Role of Women in the Fund Industry," ICI Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference, March 2016
• “Hot Topics: Leading Current Issues in Securities Regulation and Enforcement,” Columbia Law School, 15 November 2013
• “International Women in Law Summit,” jointly sponsored by The Law Society and the National Association of Women Lawyers, London, England, March 2012 (organizer and presenter)
• “Synthetic Annuities: Securities, Tax, and Insurance Issues,” ALI-ABA Conference on Life Insurance Company Products, November 2008
• “Ethical Obligations of Fund Lawyers and Compliance Professionals,” Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference, March 2005
• Roundtable on the Role of Independent Investment Company Directors: Issues for Independent Directors of Bank-Related Funds, Variable Insurance Product Funds, and Closed-End Funds, The Business Lawyer, November 1999
• Roundtable on the Role of Independent Investment Company Directors of Bank Related Funds, Variable Insurance Product Funds, and Closed-End Funds, The Business Lawyer, November 1999

• Wall Street Journal, Women in the Economy Summit (2012)
• "Investment Management Newsletter," K&L Gates publication, Winter 2007
• "Investment Management Update," K&L Gates publication, Summer 2007
• Fund Directors Guidebook, American Bar Association (1st ed., 1996; 2nd ed., 2003; 3rd ed., 2006)
• Co-Editor, Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Planning & Compliance, Aspen Publishers, November 2005, updated annually; translated into Chinese by CCH Hong Kong Limited
• "The New Technologies of Customer Identification" (Part 2), Currents, a publication of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, March/April 2002
• "The New Technologies of Customer Identification" (Part 1), Currents, a publication of the National Society of Compliance Professionals, January/February 2002
• "Issues for Independent Directors of Bank-Related Funds, Variable Insurance Product Funds, and Closed-End Funds,” The Business Lawyer, November 1999
• "Investment Companies and Investment Advisers," Securities Practice and Electronic Technology, August 1998
• "Regulatory Talk," Fund Action, 9 March 1998
• "The Financing of Mutual Fund B Share Arrangements," The Business Lawyer, August 1997
• "Developments Affecting Fund of Funds Structures, Variable Insurance Contract Pricing, and Fund Names," Insights, The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor, May 1997
• The Financial Revolution: Understanding the Changing Roles of Banks, Insurance Companies, and Mutual Funds, Irwin Professional Publishing, Fall 1996
• "The Barnett Decision: Another Step Toward Expanded Bank Powers," Banking Policy Report, 6 May 1996
• "Participant Directed Defined Contribution Plans and Reliance on the Private Investment Company Exception," Insights, The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor and The Investment Lawyer, March 1996
• "U.S. Supreme Court Rules National Banks May Broker Annuities," The Financial Services Regulatory Report, December 1995 - January 1996
• "Bank Investment Products Deskbook," Warren, Gorham & Lamont, Fall 1995
• "Developments Relating to Investment Companies, Banks, and Mutual Funds," Bankers Magazine, March/April 1995
• "Insurance Companies, Banks, and Mutual Fund Complexes: Who, What, Where," The Financial Services Regulatory Report, October/November 1994
• "Lateral Hiring Conflicts," Insights, The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor, June 1991