Megan Senatori is the Executive Director of the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS). She is also currently serving as the Interim Assistant Dean of the Animal Law Program.

Senatori joined CALS in 2019 as the Director of Strategic Initiatives before she was promoted to Associate Director in 2020. Her work focuses on strategic priorities, innovative programming, and long-term growth initiatives aimed at strengthening animal law education and expanding protections for animals. She has been instrumental in shaping CALS outreach, development and communications efforts and leads new opportunities to grow the discipline and advance animal protection efforts through academia. In 2026, she was honored with the American Bar Association’s Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law Award.

An accomplished litigator with almost two decades of experience in private practice, Megan served as Litigation Practice Group Chair for five years for a 120 attorney law firm with litigators across three offices in Wisconsin and Minnesota just prior to joining CALS in 2019. Her litigation practice consisted of a wide-range of complex civil litigation. She also represented veterinarians and veterinary clinics, as well as litigated cases to advance protections for animals, including cases involving animal cruelty, breed specific legislation, the police shooting of companion dogs, tort cases involving companion animals, custody/placement disputes, domestic violence, and more. She served as co-author of an amicus brief before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of a group of 43 law professors to argue in United States v. Stevens that preventing animal cruelty is a compelling governmental interest to be respected by the Court. She was honored with the Animal Legal Defense Fund Pro Bono Achievement Award in 2013. 

Megan has been teaching animal law since 2003, including teaching the first-ever animal law courses at the University of Wisconsin Law School (2003) and at Marquette University Law School (2025). Both courses covered the fundamentals of animal law and she taught those courses through 2013. She also taught a seminar course in Negotiations, Mediation & Arbitration at the University of Wisconsin Law School for several years. She routinely presents to attorneys, veterinarians, humane officers and law enforcement regarding animal protection issues, including teaching a portion of the annual Wisconsin Humane Officer Certification Program for the State of Wisconsin for more than a decade. From 2006 to 2019, she annually guest lectured at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in the Practice Skills Course regarding issues such as recordkeeping, informed consent, regulatory and practice issues. She has taught at Lewis & Clark Law School since 2020, currently teaching in the online animal law advanced degree program.

Megan also has significant experience regarding the link between animal cruelty and domestic violence. In 2001, she co-founded Sheltering Animals of Abuse Victims (SAAV) a volunteer-powered nonprofit organization based in Wisconsin that recognizes animals as vital family members and arranges for their safe harbor when a domestic abuse victim seeks refuge from an abuser. She continues to serve as SAAV President and oversees services. Megan has been featured for her work on the link in O Magazine and a variety of other publications.