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Animals are in peril. Globally, over 80 billion land animals are slaughtered each year. The increasing impacts of climate change, habitat destruction, plastic pollution, and other environmental harms are decimating the landscapes where wild animals used to freely roam. Overfishing, aquaculture, and the aquarium trade are among the threats to aquatic animals. And even though the majority of people view their companion animal as a family member, these animals also may suffer from neglect, abuse, and other forms of preventable harm.
As concerns grow, the need for skilled professionals equipped to effectively advance legal protections and advocate on behalf of animals grows, too. Thankfully, individuals around the world are choosing to pursue careers in animal law.
While there is a wide range of animal law career paths one can take, they all require the development of substantive legal knowledge, as well as strong communication, legal innovation, and problem-solving and analytical skills, to make impactful changes for animals. The Animal Law Advanced Degree Program offered by the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) at Lewis & Clark Law School equips advocates with animal law education and training designed for career success and real world impact.
Substantive Legal Knowledge
The curriculum at the CALS is marked by its breadth and diversity of subjects. The 26-credit advanced degree program enables advocates to dive into substantive areas of animal law such as: Aquatic Animal Law, Companion Animal Law, Crimes Against Animals, Industrial Animal Agriculture Law, and International Animal Law, to name just a few. These courses are taught by experts in the field with real world experience in making a difference for animals.
Communication Skills
Animal law advocates rely on clear, impactful communication skills to make compelling arguments, regardless of their audience. To that end, effective communication skills are always included as a component throughout our courses. Two courses in particular, Animal Law Legislation and Lobbying and Animal Law Trial Advocacy, prepare students with the practical skills necessary to be a persuasive animal advocate.
The Animal Law Legislation and Lobbying course teaches students how to approach all stages of the legislation process. As part of this course, students learn how to draft proposed legislation, strategically engage with the media, and prepare to present testimony in support of their own legislation.
In the Animal Law Trial Advocacy course, students focus on the role litigation plays in animal advocacy. Through real cases and hypothetical exercises, this course equips both lawyers and non-lawyer students with the knowledge and skills necessary for anyone involved in animal litigation, whether as a trial attorney, client, expert witness, nonprofit, or in some other capacity.
Legal Innovation
Within a rapidly evolving area of law, animal advocates are required to keep up with the shifting legal landscape and to think creatively to advance the law for animals. As a trailblazer in animal law, the Center for Animal Law Studies exposes students to cutting-edge legal advocacy by developing courses that focus on emerging animal law topics.
For example, a first-of-its-kind Insect Law course allows students to explore the growing “insect crisis.” From the declining insect populations to the legal implications surrounding the introduction of insect farms, this course offers students the opportunity to engage in a novel field of legal research and scholarship. Another emerging topics course, Veterinary Animal Law, merges concepts from veterinary law and animal law to create connections that are essential to animal protection. These, and other emerging topics, encourage students to embrace legal innovation as a component of effective legal advocacy.
Problem-solving and Analytical Skills
Even with the growing public and societal concern for animals, current laws in the U.S. and around the world often fail to adequately protect animals. Therefore, animal advocates are required to think critically to identify the shortcomings in the law and creatively develop innovative solutions to navigate these legal challenges. Across the Animal Law Advanced Degree Program courses, students are encouraged to look for cross-disciplinary and collaborative approaches to pursue meaningful change for animals.
The Center for Animal Law Studies equips graduates with these animal advocacy skills through their animal law education and training program. Graduates share how the program cultivated these skills and made them better advocates, and prepared them to improve the world for animals:
- “The Animal Law MSL degree has made me a stronger animal advocate by giving me tools I did not possess as a veterinarian. It also allowed me to meet incredible people involved in animal law, both instructors and peers.”
- “The professors in the Animal Law LLM program are truly helpful in how they teach how to talk about these subjects; I’ve better learned the notion of meeting people where they are in conversations and in how I try to model the world I want.”
- “This degree has empowered me to continue advancing animal protection with renewed skill, confidence, and perspective, and to bring the voices of overlooked species into some of the world’s most influential decision-making arenas.”