Pamela Hart Steps into New Role as Assistant Dean of the Animal Law Program

Pamela Hart became the new Assistant Dean of the Animal Law Program at Lewis & Clark Law School on January 1, and will continue to serve as Executive Director for the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS). Hart takes over the role from CALS Founder, Professor Pamela Frasch. As the Animal Law Program and CALS have grown significantly in recent years, this restructure enables Professor Frasch to focus on her new role as full Professor and Brooks McCormick Jr. Scholar of Animal Law and Policy.

Under Hart’s leadership as Executive Director, CALS has expanded its mission to include a variety of innovative new programs to advance animal protection and animal law education. In the fall of 2019, CALS launched the Animal Law Litigation Clinic—the world’s first legal clinic devoted to farmed animal protection. This past fall, CALS launched the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment, a champion for wild animals and wild spaces across the globe, and collaboration between CALS and the Environmental Law Program.

“We are thrilled that Pam Hart is our new Assistant Dean,” Professor Frasch said. “Pam has done an exemplary job as CALS Executive Director and I can’t wait to see all that she will continue to accomplish for animal protection and animal law education in this new role.”

Hart joined CALS as the Director of Strategic Initiatives in April of 2018, and became Executive Director in June of 2019. She has extensive experience in academia, nonprofit management, and business. Hart has held leadership, board, and supervisory positions at leading animal protection organizations for over 15 years. On the academic front, Hart was the first person to develop and teach an Animal Law course at the University of Chicago Law School, as well as co-teaching the first such course at her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also worked closely with Professors Kathy Hessler and Joyce Tischler to co-author Animal Law-New Perspectives on Teaching Traditional Law: A Context and Practice Casebook.

Professor Frasch will continue to be substantially involved as CALS’ Founder with fundraising and program development. She will also focus on academic research, scholarship, and teaching. Professor Frasch has taught survey and advanced courses in animal law at Lewis & Clark Law School since 1998. Twenty years ago, she co-authored the first American legal casebook in the field, Animal Law: Cases and Materials now in its sixth edition (Carolina Academic Press, 2019). Over 160 law schools in the nation have used the casebook and it has helped to shape the field of animal law as we know it today.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law attorneys and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter, with the most comprehensive animal law curriculum offered anywhere. In addition, CALS is the only program that offers an advanced legal degree in animal law and three specialty Animal Law Clinics. CALS is a fully self-funded nonprofit organization operating under the Lewis & Clark College 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and is only able to provide these educational opportunities through donations and grants.