International Wildlife Law Clinic

CALS Launches International Wildlife Clinic

The world-renowned Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) and the #1 ranked Environmental Law Program launched the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment (the Global Law Alliance) as champions for wild animals and wild spaces, and to provide clinical opportunities for students interested in international animal and environmental law. We offer two clinics that provide practical skills and are designed for students who have an interest in practicing international environmental and/or international wildlife law. 

The International Animal and Environmental Law Clinic—for JD Students

The International Animal and Environmental Law Clinic is designed for JD students. Students work on ongoing cases and projects of the Global Law Alliance, under the direction of Clinical Professor, Erica Lyman, and take an active role. In addition to learning substantive international environmental law and international wildlife law, students have the opportunity to deepen their research, problem solving, analytical, and writing skills. Visit the Law Courses Catalog for course details, prerequisites, enrollment, and more.

The International Wildlife Law Clinic—for Animal Law LLM Students

The International Wildlife Law Clinic provides is an innovative learning opportunity for lawyers who are pursuing their Animal Law LLM degree at CALS. As the students in this clinic already have their law degree and, in many cases, practical experience in the field as practicing attorneys in their home countries, the clinic is designed with that experience in mind. The clinic provides opportunities for these lawyers to hone their skills, learn substantive international wildlife law, and take an active role in the ongoing cases and projects of the Global Law Alliance. Students also re-examine our relationship with wildlife, with a goal of finding innovative pathways to improving the lives of animals, people, and protecting the planet.

 

Noted international wildlife and environmental lawyer and scholar, Clinical Professor Erica Lyman leads the Global Law Alliance. For over fifteen years, Professor Lyman has dedicated her practice, teaching, and scholarship to advancing wild animal protection throughout the world. She is recognized by peers as a leader in the field of international wildlife law, with a deep knowledge of international law and a history of creative, progressive thinking about using international legal opportunities for the benefit of wildlife and the environment.

 

She is joined at the Global Law Alliance by Senior Staff Attorney Nick Fromherz, also an expert in international wildlife law, with particular expertise in Latin America as he lives and works in Bolivia. Nick has been an Assistant Visiting Professor in the areas of international law, environmental law, and comparative law, and is now an Adjunct Professor, at Lewis & Clark Law School. He was formerly a senior attorney at Sea Shepherd Legal (SSL).

 

CALS remains the only program in the world to offer an advanced legal degree in animal law (the Animal Law LLM). CALS has educated and trained more than 52 graduates from over 20 countries around the world. The Clinic enables CALS’ LLM students to gain the expertise they need in both animal law and environmental law to return to their home countries and advance animal protection through the law. Dean of Animal Law, Professor Pamela Frasch, underscores the importance of these clinical opportunities, saying “It is with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose that we educate the next generation of animal law attorneys in essential, and overlapping, concepts of environmental and animal law.”