March 02, 2015

Three programs, one conference—Eat, Pray, Law: A Food Forum

Lewis & Clark Law School will host its first Food Law conference on Friday, March 13, 2015. This conference is an opportunity to integrate the Animal Law, Business Law and Environmental Law programs. Eat, Pray, Law: A Food Forum, will offer students, faculty and regional food businesses a chance to experience the exciting intersection of food and law. We will explore issues ranging from labeling and transparency to sustainability, urban agriculture, and food justice.

Lewis & Clark Law School will host its first Food Law conference on Friday, March 13, 2015. This conference is an opportunity to integrate the Animal Law, Business Law, and Environmental Law Programs. Eat, Pray, Law: A Food Forum will offer students, faculty, and regional food businesses a chance to experience the exciting intersection of food and law. We will explore issues ranging from labeling and transparency to sustainability, urban agriculture, and food justice.   

“Food is the most intimate thing we have a relationship with. Without it, all the other ambitions we have to make our families, our communities, our world a better place would not happen. If we understand where our food grows, how to grow it sustainably while regenerating the soil, and what we have to do to feed people the right food from plants to animals, then we are better prepared to make laws which help those in the industry to address legal issues in employment, IP and business law, environmental law, and animal law and advocacy,” said Vytas Babusis, JD student and president of the Food and Wine Society.

The forum will feature four distinct panels, each offering dynamic dialog from various positions of the food industry. Collaboratively, these sessions will provide a compressive look into issues surrounding the local, regional and international foodshed. Nineteen experts will engage each other and the public as facts are presented and opinions are expressed. This dynamic lineup includes U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer; Ann Forsthoefel of James Beard Public Market; George Kimbrell, senior attorney for the Center of Food Safety; Dr. Gieri Bolliger, executive director of Stiftung fur das Tier im Recht (Foundation for Animals in the Law) in Zurich, Switzerland; and Richard Satnick, founder of Laughing Planet and Portland’s own Dick’s Kitchen, just to name a few.

Eat, Pray, Law: A Food Forum will be held on Friday, March 13, 2015, and has been approved for seven MCLE credits through Oregon State Bar. Registration is required and available here.