The conference kicked off with an evening reception. Attendees enjoyed appetizers and drinks while networking with fellow conference participants.

Introductions and Welcome

Michelle Pawliger, SALDF Co-Director, Lewis & Clark Law School

Pamela Frasch, Assistant Dean, Animal Law Program and Executive Director, Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School

Kathy Hessler, Clinical Director, Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School

Jaclyn Leeds, SALDF Student Conference Coordinator, Lewis & Clark Law School

Holly Gann, SALDF Co-Director, Lewis & Clark Law School

Get your blood pumping early in the morning with ethics Professor Steve Johansen and animal law expert Russ Mead as they lead attendees on a fast-paced journey through some of the most challenging ethical dilemmas animal law attorneys face in practice today. Interactive and thought-provoking, applicable attendees will receive 1.25 Oregon ethics CLE credits.

The SALDF breakfast allows students from around the county who are interested in animal law to meet, share ideas and information, and build stronger SALDF programs over coffee and vegan baked goods. *Continental breakfast available for all others in the lower level of Wood Hall at Lewis & Clark Law School.

As a result of heightened public concern about harm from chemical exposure and increasing demand for legal reform to protect people, wildlife and the environment from toxins, there is evidence of an emerging shift in how chemicals are tested. In response to the National Research Council’s vision and strategy for toxicity testing, what steps should lawyers, regulators and policymakers take to ensure that chemical testing protects public health? This panel will explore these questions as well as examining how these new developments might affect the future of animal testing.

This panel will lay out the hot topics under current Congressional consideration, as well as individual states’ progress in animal legislation. The panel will also discuss recent cases of interest to the animal law movement.

This panel will explore effective ways to build bridges between putatively hostile or distrustful groups. Dr. Bernard Rollin will discuss his personal experiences working directly with cattlemen associations to improve conditions for animals. He will also read from his autobiography Putting the Horse Before Descartes. Dr. Rollin will be available to sign copies of his book immediately following this talk.

When disciplines intersect, there is often great opportunity to discover unexpected links and to think about problems from new vantage points. This panel will examine animal law through an interdisciplinary lens, focusing on related academic areas such as moral philosophy, critical theory, and feminist theory.

This panel will explore how to build a criminal case against an animal abuser, including working with police and local animal organizations. It will examine the difficulties faced by prosecutors and the solutions they have had to craft to put people who harm victims that can’t testify behind bars.

This panel is intended to tap into and discuss the popular trends in pet ownership and how those trends affect animals when they are no longer popular. This panel will discuss how human preferences change and how that changes the pets they bring into their homes.

Animals need more than litigators; they need lawyers who can act as counselors and intermediaries, draft contracts and trusts and provide legal services for businesses (for profit and non-profit) that provide goods and services to help animals. This panel will focus on the transactional opportunities lawyers have to help animals.

Addressing certain animal issues is not possible without a global conversation. Species and habitat conservation, climate change, trade, and economics all affect even domestic efforts to help animals. These experts will discuss global efforts to address some of the problems facing animals.

This panel gives attendees a chance to learn from these international animal law pioneers about exciting new developments in Switzerland and Egypt.

Every good sanctuary has one or more lawyers working for it, and legal training and expertise are invaluable assets to running and protecting a home for rescued animals. Bruce Wagman and Sarah Baeckler will discuss the wide range of roles lawyers play in the life of a sanctuary. Topics will cover the broad range of the speakers’ experience, including: establishing a nonprofit corporation; litigating on behalf of the sanctuaries and their animals; negotiating rescues; undercover investigations; public advocacy and campaigns; managing human resources; and the variety of contractual situations that arise running a sanctuary.

What happens to animal shelters, humane societies and rescue organizations when the funding dries up? More importantly, what happens to the animals they serve? This panel takes a hard look at the hard times shelters face when the economy suffers. Ledy VanKavage and Amy Sacks are two of the most respected experts on sheltering animals and will report from the frontlines on the harsh realities companion animals face in a bad economy.

Why are there special legal precautions taken with exotic pets? What are some of the public policies pertaining to exotic pets? Come learn the answers to these questions and more! This session will also explore the recent changes to the Dangerous Wild Act Schedule from a European perspective as well as outline the history of organizations working on these issues such as, the Born Free Foundation and Born Free USA.

Join Ethan Davidsohn, Sous Chef of Bon Appetit, as he guides us through the preparation of a delectable vegan breakfast, and imparts his wisdom on eating both healthy and vegan. Grab some breakfast in the hall on your way to the talk!

Is it condescending, racist and culturally imperialistic for Americans to demand that other cultures stop eating dog, horse or bush meat when we eat chickens, cows, pigs and others? Are there rational distinctions to be made between raising pigs for slaughter and raising dogs for slaughter? This panel explores the ethical issues that arise when animal-based cultural traditions are challenged by outsiders.

What if animals had legal rights? This panel provides two different viewpoints on why animal don’t have right, whether they should have rights, and the implications of such rights for practitioners.

Wolves are now protected by both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts. This panel will discuss the controversy in legislation and litigation currently relating to wolves.

In Canada, as in most jurisdictions, prosecutors and regulatory agencies generally remain far too hesitant in enforcing legislation intended to punish acts of cruelty against animals. Given the status quo, some advocates have begun thinking of a different course, and rather than attempting to reform the system in hope of a “new” prosecution framework, they’ve turned their attention instead to a historical relic: the power held by any citizen to institute a “private” prosecution against a person who has contravened the criminal law. In Canada, any citizen is entitled to gather evidence of wrongdoing and lay charges against an alleged offender in an effort to enforce the law. Neither the police nor government enforcement agencies need be involved in order for a prosecution to go forward.

Private prosecutions offer tantalizing potential for animal advocates and could ultimately prove useful both in deterring certain types of animal mistreatment and in raising the profile of the battle to reduce animal abuse. Nonetheless, this avenue is hardly a panacea, and before going forward it will be necessary for would-be prosecutors to address a number of significant obstacles that are likely to arise. In this presentation, we intend to assess the viability of a private prosecution under Canadian federal law protecting against animal cruelty. We shall look at the source of the power to prosecute privately, the benefits prosecutions of this sort might deliver and the particular challenges posed in cases involving the institutional mistreatment of animals.

Animal Advocates Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer are the brains behind the hugely successful online animal rights organization and podcast, Our Hen House. Learn from these inspirational entrepreneurs about how each and every one of us can make a significant difference for the animals by unleashing our creativity, being doggedly persistent and following our dreams to create a better world for animals.

This panel gives attendees a chance to learn from these international animal law pioneers about exciting new developments in the countries that sandwich the United States.

By examining specific proposals for new litigation, this panel will explore the role of creativity and innovation in the work of animal law practitioners. Are novel and creative readings of existing law likely to push animal interests forward through the legal system? Or will our groundbreaking legal theories inevitably stumble as they clash with the prevailing and pervasive speciesism of that system?

What does “cage-free” and “organic” really mean? This panel will touch upon the current standards for the labels we read in the grocery store ”“ the advantages and deceptions of affirmative labeling.

Speakers from a variety of professional backgrounds (non-profit, government, academia, law firms, etc.) will present ideas about how to build animal law into your career after law school. The format for this session will be “round-table,” with presenters sharing their personal experiences yet also allowing plenty of time for audience questions and comments. Bring your ideas!