Animal Law Section
Animal law has quickly emerged as a specialty legal field in law schools (Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, Hastings, Rutgers, and the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College, which publishes the Animal Law Journal). Animal-centered litigation appears more routinely on court dockets as pet owners sue to recover damages. Nationwide, legislatures debate the passage of bills addressing issues at the boundaries of human-animal relationships; in 2010 Carolina Academic Press published the 4th editition of a 780-page volume on Animal Law, the first casebook of its kind.
Animal law has useful applications for practitioners in many areas including landlord/tenant, criminal, wills and trusts, personal injury and tort claims, non-profit corporations, agricultural, local government and administrative law.
In addition to providing a forum for members to exchange ideas, study, and understand laws, regulations, and case law pertaining to all areas of Animal Law, initial goals of the Animal Law Section include:
-
Establish a mid-year CLE and, eventually, a multi-state MCLE animal law institute;
-
Publish an Animal Law Reporter for the Pacific Northwest or nationally;
- Print and distribute quarterly email or paper newsletters to section members, soliciting articles from practitioners, academics, and others;
- Produce animal law-related pamphlets for the public;
- Provide information to and facilitate cooperation with government agencies and non-governmental humane societies, rescue organizations, and animal sanctuaries; and
- Organize brown-bag lunches and roundtables to address animal law matters in a short time frame.
Contact the Section
For general questions, please send your inquiry to sections@wsba.org. To get involved and learn more about the Animal Law Section, please contact the Section chair, Claire Davis.