Ms. Frasch is Executive Director of the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS). CALS is an academic animal law program with a focus on research, scholarship, and experiential education. CALS is dedicated to:
- Training law students and lawyers for careers as leaders in Animal Law and public policy;
- Conducting, supporting, and promoting rigorous, independent legal research that advances the field of Animal Law; and
- Developing innovative recommendations and legal strategies relating to Animal Law within administrative, legislative, litigation and other settings.
Previously, Ms. Frasch served as general counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), a national nonprofit animal protection law organization that seeks to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. In 1996, Ms. Frasch created the ALDF Criminal Justice Program which has since assisted law enforcement and animal advocates in investigating and prosecuting thousands of animal abuse and neglect cases nationwide.
In addition to her duties with CALS, Ms. Frasch is co-author of the premier American legal casebook in the field, Animal Law: Cases and Materials now in its fourth edition (Carolina Academic Press, 2010) and used in most animal law courses being taught in the United States. She is also co-author, with Professor Kathy Hessler among others, of Animal Law in a Nutshell (Thomson West, 2011). She has taught survey and advanced courses in animal law at Lewis & Clark Law School since 1998.
Ms. Frasch is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on issues of animal law and is the principal author of Oregon’s first felony anti-cruelty law. She has authored or co-authored a number of articles and book chapters in the field, and has been recognized by the Humane Society of the United States and the Oregon Humane Society for her contributions.
Prior to focusing her practice on animal law, Ms. Frasch specialized in labor and employment law at Littler Mendelson and Hanson, Bridgett, in San Francisco and employee benefits law at Stoel Rives in Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the California and Oregon State Bars.