Kimberly J. Cullen

Kimberly Cullen is a litigator with trial-level and appellate experience in drafting and editing legal opinions and conducting legal research.

Before joining Stoel Rives, Kimberly was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Jane Kelly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and to the Honorable Robert W. Pratt, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa. She was also a summer litigation associate with a regional law firm, a student legal practitioner in the University of Iowa College of Law’s Federal Criminal Defense and Immigration clinics, a research assistant to Professor Emily Hughes, University of Iowa College of Law, and a public defender intern with the Iowa Public Defenders’ Office. Prior to law school, Kimberly was a paralegal where she gained experience in workers’ compensation, employment, and transactional law.

Education

University of Iowa College of Law, J.D., 2021; Senior Note & Comment Editor, Iowa Law Review; Competitor, Roy L. Stephenson Trial Advocacy Competition; Law Legal Opportunity Fellow

University of Iowa, studies toward M.S.W., 2011–2012

University of Iowa, B.A., English Literature/B.A., French/Arabic Studies, 2011, with distinction and honors

Admissions

Iowa 

Not licensed to practice in Oregon

Insights & Presentations

• “State-Sponsored Surveillance and Punishment: How Municipal Crime-Free Ordinances Exacerbate the Carceral Continuum,” 31 U. PUB. INT. L.J. 47 (2022)
• “Ethical Dilemmas for In-House Counsel During the Pre-Litigation Employment Practices Liability Insurance Audit,” 106 IOWA L. REV. 1363 (2021)
• “Promoting Diversity on the Federal Bench and in Practice,” Federal Practice Seminar, Iowa State Bar Association, December 11, 2020
• “Advancing Diversity in the Workplace,” 2020 Corporate Counsel & Trade Regulation Seminar, Iowa State Bar Association, September 18, 2020

• Philip G. Hubbard Human Rights Award, University of Iowa
• Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence in Clinical Law Programs (highest grade)
• Jurisprudence Award for Academic Excellence in Public Health Law (highest grade in seminar)
• Jurisprudence Award for Academic Excellence in Housing Law & Policy
• Antonia D. Miller Award (outstanding Black Iowa law student)

Professional

• American Bar Association
• Iowa State Bar Association