Stephan K. Otto ‘00

While attending law school, Stephan K. Otto served as an Associate Editor for the Animal Law Review and clerked for the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF). He continued working at ALDF as an attorney and as their first Director of Legislative Affairs from 2000 to 2012.

During his tenure at ALDF, Otto managed and oversaw the development of laws at the local, state and federal levels. He authored various bills, statutes and ordinances in jurisdictions throughout the country, including some first-in-the-nation laws. Otto’s organizational initiatives, campaigns and publications have been extremely successful and continue to generate some of the highest media attention for ALDF on a recurring basis. Otto was the creator and editor of the mammoth 4,000+ page Animal Protection Laws of the United States of America & Canada compendium, Model Animal Protection Laws collection, and annual comparative reports, U.S. Animal Protection Laws Rankings and Canadian Animal Protection Laws Rankings – the longest-running and most authoritative reports of their kind.

Otto left ALDF in 2012 to form two businesses: Ottonomous, a media and publishing venture, and Animal Law Strategies, a legislative consulting firm. He remains an adjunct professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School where he established and teaches a clinical internship focused on animal law legislation at the local level – the only one of its type in the nation.

Otto speaks on an array of issues at hearings and presentations across the country; has appeared in the media on a variety of animal law issues; and has published several articles on animal protection laws and legislation.