Animal Law - WSBA's Newest Section

Section Approved at April Board of Governors Meeting

At the April 2002 meeting of the WSBA Board of Governors, a request to form the Animal Law Section and proposed bylaws that include associate membership was approved.  Washington State is now the fourth in the nation to have a state section dedicated to animal-related jurisprudence.  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.  And last year Carolina Academic Press published a 780-page volume Animal Law, the first casebook of its kind. 

Animal law conferences and CLEs, such as Washington's first, all-day animal law CLE slated for March 2003 (sponsored by the WSBA), and Washington's first half-day animal law CLE this summer (sponsored by the PCBA), will convene with greater regularity, allowing practitioners the ability to discuss the intriguing legal and ethical issues surrounding animal law while obtaining credit.

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.

Join the Animal Law Section Now as a Founding Member!

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.

• Create an animal law listserv.

• Print and distribute quarterly email or paper newsletters to section members, soliciting articles from practitioners, academics, and others.

• Produce animal law-related pamphlets to the public.

• Provide information to and facilitate cooperation with government agencies and non-governmental humane societies, rescue organizations, and animal sanctuaries.

• Organize brown-bag lunches and roundtables to address animal law matters in a short time frame.  

Annual membership dues are $25.  Membership information is available on the website at www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/animallaw/  or by contacting the WSBA Service Center at 800-945-WSBA (9722) or 206-443-WSBA (9722).

Back to table of contents >>