September 07, 2017

Russ Mead Speaks to SALDF

On Thursday, September 7th, 2017, visiting professor Russ Mead gave a talk to our LC SALDF chapter titled “I Could Do That.” After years of teaching at Lewis & Clark Law, in 2016 Professor Mead was named the Shared Earth Foundation Visiting Professor. Professor Mead was instrumental in the rescue of animals after Hurricane Katrina, and has implemented other large-scale rescues, including complex hoarding cases involving over hundreds of animals.

On Thursday, September 7th, 2017, visiting professor Russ Mead gave a talk to our LC SALDF chapter titled “I Could Do That.” After years of teaching at Lewis & Clark Law, in 2016 Professor Mead was named the Shared Earth Foundation Visiting Professor. Professor Mead was instrumental in the rescue of animals after Hurricane Katrina, and has implemented other large-scale rescues, including complex hoarding cases involving over hundreds of animals.

LC SALDF Co-Director, Maral Cavner, started off the event by announcing our upcoming events and introducing Professor Mead. Professor Mead first discussed that now is the perfect time to attend law school, because half of currently employed attorneys are retiring in the next 10-12 years, which means there will be more availability in jobs and work. Further, he described how we can incorporate Animal Law into our practices, including that we do not need to specifically focus on animal law in order to help animals. For example, he stated that we could just dedicate 10, 5, or even 1 hour per week on Animal Law work, and over time, this would be an incredible contribution to the animal law field.

He then moved on to his “I Can Do That” component of his talk, by explaining several unconventional ways we can help animals. The examples included writing an amicus brief, holding a rally, giving a victim statement in the eyes of the animals, and giving a demonstration. These are all examples of strategies that Professor Mead himself has used to change the minds of judges, spread the word about the issue, and open the eyes and hearts of many. These illustrated that with even one small idea, we can make a big difference.

To learn more about Russ Mead and his incredible work, please visit http://law.lclark.edu/live/news/36643-cals-welcomes-russ-mead-and-raj-reddy