Gladys Kamanayu LLM ’20

Gladys Kamanayu LLM ’20Gladys Kamasanyu was recently featured in The Guardian for her work to protect African wildlife as head of Uganda’s wildlife court. The court, established in 2017, is the first in Africa to be dedicated to wildlife crime. She has tried more than 1,000 cases and convicted more than 600 traffickers.

Though she specialized in animal law at Lewis & Clark, it was presiding over cases involving animal cruelty that drove Kamasanyu to dedicate her life to animals. She recently sentenced a repeat offender to life in prison for ivory possession.

Kamasanyu also founded Help African Animals, an organization that trains prosecutors and investigators of wildlife crime and animal rights. “I speak for the animals,” she said in The Guardian article. “I speak for those non-humans who cannot speak. If I don’t speak loudly, I’m not doing a good job.”