April 9, 2017
McGuireWoods lawyer Becky Diffen has been selected as the Austin Under 40 Award winner in the Engineering, Energy, Mobility and Systems Sciences Category.
Diffen, an accomplished transactional lawyer with extensive experience in the renewable energy sector, is among just 16 honorees whose professional and civic accomplishments were celebrated at an April 1 event in Austin. The annual awards program benefits the Young Women’s Alliance Foundation and the Austin Young Men’s Business League’s Sunshine Camps, which help children in low-income families.
“I am truly honored to be included among this remarkable group of professionals from a variety of industries who have made such a positive impact on the Austin community,” Diffen said.
A member of McGuireWoods’ Energy Industry Team, Diffen advises clients in project development and finance matters and handles mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy, energy storage and power generation sectors. She worked in Austin as a utility-scale wind developer before graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, where she now teaches a seminar on electric power law. Among her numerous honors, Chambers USA has recognized her as an “associate to watch” each year since 2011.
A thought leader on legal issues facing the renewable energy industry, Diffen co‑authors Wind Law, a first-of-its-kind, annually updated treatise covering environmental, siting and regulatory issues, federal and state incentives, and litigation and transactional topics in the wind sector. She co‑founded the Texas Energy Law Association alumni organization at her alma mater and co‑chairs the Austin chapter of Women of Wind Energy, a nonprofit that promotes the education, professional development and advancement of women in the renewable energy industry.
Diffen serves as vice president of the Austin Public Library Foundation’s board of directors. For the past six years, she has devoted pro bono service to the nonprofit Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation and recently assisted the group in a joint venture with the Jeremiah Program of Austin to build housing for 35 low-income Austin families, particularly single mothers and their children.