Juli is the Founder and Executive Director of One Tail at a Time PDX (OTAT), a 501(c)3 all-breed, no-kill, foster-based dog rescue that is a sister org of the original OTAT in Chicago, IL. Juli began volunteering at OTAT Chicago in 2008 during her first year of law school. When she moved to Portland in 2013 to obtain her Animal Law LLM from CALS she had a dream of starting the Portland branch of the rescue.
Juli officially launched OTAT PDX in November 2014, and has rescued over 1400 dogs to date thanks to the support of volunteers, foster homes, adopters, and donors. OTAT is excited to be helping dogs in need in the Pacific Northwest and furthering it’s goals of lowering euthanasia rates through the rescue and adoption of dogs in need, offering comprehensive support of adopters, and community outreach through humane education programs and assistance for disadvantaged and low-income families.
“Moving across the country only a year after obtaining my law license in Illinois, and after swearing off any more school, to attend the Animal Law LLM program at Lewis & Clark Law School was the single best decision I have ever made. Professionally it introduced me to curriculum, literature, professors, colleagues, and clients that are at the forefront of animal legal issues, while personally it introduced me to lifelong friends and mentors. Because of the people I met and the things we accomplished throughout the program and even after, I feel equipped and capable in doing companion animal welfare work.
The Animal Law Clinic was the most valuable and informative piece to my experience in the Animal Law LLM program at Lewis & Clark Law School. Our classroom discussions and pedagogical exercises coupled with hands-on, real-world work for clients provided the most well-rounded opportunities for both learning and application. We were offered interesting legal projects that directly helped animals while maintaining a manageable workload. Professor Hessler is a masterful, thoughtful, skilled and creative educator; she balanced structuring our classroom discussions while remaining flexible enough to let them take their natural course. The atmosphere was intimate, respectful, safe and diverse, and I left class each week with newfound insight into pertinent animal legal issues viewed within multiple frameworks in which to consider the challenges faced in this field. Overall I appreciated my time in the Clinic because it presented challenges that provided the most personal and professional growth within the program. I would highly recommend it to anyone and feel lucky to have had the chance.”