February 01, 2023

Meet our Law Scholars for Change Scholarship Recipient

Cat Kelly (2L) has been selected to receive the first annual Law Scholars for Change scholarship to support her courses to obtain a Certificate in Animal Law.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) is pleased to announce Caitlin (Cat) Kelly as the recipient of the 2022-2023 Animal Law Tuition Scholarship! Cat is a 2L who chose to study at Lewis & Clark Law School due to her desire to pursue a career in animal protection.

The Animal Law Tuition Scholarship, provided by the Law Scholars for Change Program, is a new scholarship and this is the first time it has been awarded. Founded by Charles Anderson and Pamela Gross, the Law Scholars for Change Program is committed to cultivating the education, practical experience, scholarship, and life work of a select group of promising law school students, post grads, and professionals as they advocate for and advance animal rights and protections. By supporting a high level of education and nurturing a community, the Law Scholars for Change Program’s ultimate goal is to advance the rights and protections of animals.

Cat perfectly embodies these goals. She is devoted to farmed animal activism, and wants to use her law degree to facilitate legal progress for animals while also protecting our planet. She is specifically interested in ending industrial animal agriculture, and wants to help farmers to transition from animal agriculture into plant agriculture or other sustainable fields.

Through our Farmed Animal Protection Project, Cat has founded a nonprofit called the Fair Farm Project (FFP). Its mission is to: “create a future where growing food doesn’t mean depleting our resources or harming others. A future where food is colorful, diverse, and local. A future where we humans thrive with animals and the rest of the planet.” This project begins with educating people about how they can farm and garden without relying on livestock inputs, a method called stockfree. While education is the root of this project, FFP will be creating sustainable, plant-based food systems from compost benches to community farms and gardens.

While at Lewis & Clark, Cat has been deeply engaged with the animal law community. She is currently a law clerk for Professor Joyce Tischler working on industrial animal agriculture law projects. She is also the Pro-Bono chair of Lewis & Clark’s student chapter of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and previously served on Lewis & Clark’s Animal Law Review.

Of the honor, Cat says: “This scholarship has made my goals so much more accessible to me. Going to law school was the best way I knew to turn my activism into a successful and impactful career, but it’s not always an easy decision to take on something like higher education. It means the world to me that I’ve received so much support to pursue animal law and that I will be able to pay it forward to everyone we share this planet with, human and otherwise.”

Starting in the 2023-24 Academic Year, there will be two Animal Law Tuition Scholarships awarded annually through Law Scholars for Change–an award for a 2L and an award for a 3L. The scholarships are for applicants who are studying animal law at Lewis & Clark Law School and seeking a Certificate in Animal Law. They cover the cost of tuition for the courses required to obtain this Certificate. Learn more about the scholarships here.

 

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law advocates and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter. CALS’ Alumni-in-Action from over 20 countries are making a difference for animals around the world. CALS is a nonprofit organization funded through donations and grants.