Dana Buchwald Honored with Outstanding Animal Law LLM Graduate Award

Dana Buchwald (’24, U.S.) is the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Animal Law LLM Graduate Award. Dana has been a dedicated student throughout her time in our Animal Law LLM program, graduating summa cum laude, while being involved in many outreach and animal advocacy efforts. She holds a JD, cum laude, from the American University, Washington College of Law; and a Bachelor of Arts, also cum laude, from Carleton College. She is a Senior Humane Policy Volunteer Leader for the Humane Society of the United States and served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Humane Educators.

In addition to producing exceptional academic work throughout her time in the Animal Law LLM Program, Dana has continued her work as co-publisher at The Gryphon Press, whose mission is to publish children’s picture books about the vital issues that animals face, offering children insights into and empathy for every animal life. Gryphon’s goal is to offer solutions with evocative, non-didactic, age-appropriate text and high-quality illustrations. As a leader in literary social justice, The Gryphon Press has been working to change the dominant narrative about animals in one of the largest segments of media, children’s picture books. The press has affiliations with national animal welfare/activist groups and numerous local shelters and rescues around the country. Gryphon titles have been translated into Spanish, French, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, and Bulgarian. Ten Gryphon titles have been translated and published in simplified Chinese to form the core of the first Chinese humane education program, used by more than 2,000 educators, as well as a reading program for rural area children, serving 395 schools across 24 provinces, and as an Internet platform available for download by teachers in more than 5,000 schools.

Dana and Emilie Buchwald serve as co-publishers. The Gryphon Press was founded by Dana’s mother, Emilie Buchwald, a writer, editor, and teacher. Last summer, Dana was invited to present at the esteemed Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics Summer School on “The Role of Children’s Books in Advocating for Animals” held at Merton College.

As a scholarship recipient in our LLM Program, Dana pursued specialized study in animal law “in order to learn about the substantive animal law and the complex and multi-faceted situations that give rise to these laws, as well as to sharpen my legal skills and become familiar with where the field is headed.” She is now ready to pursue a career in animal law; her interest areas include legislative advocacy, courtroom animal advocate programs, protecting wildlife and their habitats, and working to end concentrated animal feeding operations.

Regarding receiving this award, Dana shares: “I am incredibly honored and grateful for this award. Attending the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis and Clark was a long-held goal of mine, and I am extremely proud to be among its alumni. The CALS faculty are trailblazers in animal law, generous and gifted professors who inspired and guided me. I am also indebted to my brilliant cohort of fellow students and CALS alumni for their deep knowledge, keen insight, and generosity of spirit, which were invaluable to my education.”

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 25 countries are making a difference for animals around the world. CALS is a nonprofit organization funded through donations and grants.