Thought Leadership in Animal Law

Our animal law faculty are involved not just in teaching and clinics, they also educate the world about the issues around animal protection through presentations, conferences, and articles.

28th Annual Animal Law Conference Attended by Over 600

The nation’s premier and longest-running animal law conference, presented by the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, focused last fall on animals in a changing climate.

  • Lyudmilla Shegay '20 Lyudmilla Shegay ’20 (Nina Johnson)
  • Zihao Yu '20 Zihao Yu ’20 (Nina Johnson)

Alums Expand Animal Law in Asia

Joyce Tischler—affectionately called “the Mother of Animal Law”—is a professor of practice at CALS. She interviewed two of her animal law LLM alums—Lyudmila Shegay ’20, the first animal law student from Kazakhstan, and Zihao Yu ’20, one of the first animal law students from China—to discuss how they are expanding the field in Asia. Lu and Zihao recently cofounded a nonprofit animal protection organization, Institute of Animal Law of Asia (ialasia.org).

Preventing Future Pandemics With a “One Health” Approach

Senior Staff Attorney Nicholas Fromherz and Clinical Professor and Director of the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment (GLA) Erica Lyman ’05, have been on the forefront of pushing for international legal reform to prevent future pandemics. Recognizing human-wildlife interaction drives the potential for zoonotic disease spillover—and that wildlife trade motivates such interaction in the first place—the GLA has been advocating for strong, concrete action to limit both illegal and legal wildlife trade. In support of such endeavors, Lyman and Fromherz prepared a legal opinion that examines options to amend the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) by adding a protocol to address the role that wildlife trade plays in zoonotic disease risk. Their opinion was featured in an article in Elephant Journal, and Fromherz and Lyman have given several talks discussing the future of wildlife trade and pandemic risk.

Tipping the Scales: How Law and Policy Fail Aquatic Animals

Clinical Professor Kathy Hessler, Director of the Animal Law Clinic and the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative (AALI) and Amy P. Wilson ’18, former AALI Fellow, address how regulatory regimes fail to provide the protection aquatic animals deserve.

Working Against Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty

Studies have shown a clear link between domestic violence and animal cruelty. Animal advocates can play an important role in stopping both kinds of brutality by becoming allies in the fight against domestic violence.

Protecting Animals

Fall-2021, Protecting Animals

First Online Animal Law LLM

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) extended the reach of its widely acclaimed Animal Law LLM Degree this year. Law graduates and attorneys around the world now have the opportunity to learn from leading animal law experts without traveling to our campus.
Fall-2021, Protecting Animals

Animal Law Litigation Clinic

The Animal Law Litigation Clinic (ALLC) is the only legal clinic in the world that focuses on farmed animal protection and training law students in critical litigation skills.