James F. Gesualdi has been an animal law attorney for 37 years and is the author of Excellence Beyond Compliance: Enhancing Animal Welfare Through the Constructive Use of the Animal Welfare Act, as well as numerous articles on continuous improvement and advancing animal interests, protection, and well-being. Mr. Gesuadli is a former special professor of law at Hofstra University School of Law and has lectured extensively on constructive approaches to building consensus and fostering transformative, sustainable change to better serve animals. He is a founding member and former chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Animals and the Law; founding co-chair, Suffolk County Bar Association Animal Law Committee, and the chair of the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Animal Law Committee for the 2025-26 ABA year. James is the inaugural recipient of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Animals and the Law Exemplary Service Award (2018), and recipient of the American Bar Association, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, Animal Law Committee Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law Award (2019).