Joyce Tischler helped found and build the field of animal law starting in the 1970s and has been a trailblazer ever since. Joyce joined the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) at Lewis & Clark Law School as a Professor of Practice in May of 2019 and retired in 2026.  Prior to that, she had been an Adjunct Faculty Professor at Lewis & Clark Law School since 2011. Joyce has taught as adjunct faculty at the University of California, Davis, John Marshall Law School, and John F. Kennedy Law School, and has lectured at law schools throughout the U.S. A noted author on animal law, Tischler is currently co-authoring a casebook on Industrialized Animal Agriculture Law and Policy. The book, a first-of-its-kind, will provide a comprehensive overview of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and the animal welfare, environmental, worker justice, and other social justice issues impacted by industrialized animal agriculture in the U.S. and beyond. In 1979, she co-founded the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF)– the first nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting nonhuman animals through the legal system. There, she conceived of and litigated cutting-edge cases aimed at protecting the interests of animals. Through intelligence, tenacity, and vision, Tischler paved the way for change in a legal system that routinely ignored the interests of nonhuman animals. Joyce’s deep experience and shaping of the field of animal law is detailed in her two-part article, A Brief History of Animal Law, Part I (1972-1987) and Part II (1985-2011), published in the Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy. She served as ALDF’s Executive Director for 25 years, and as its General Counsel until her retirement in the spring of 2019, when she joined the CALS. Given her pivotal role in launching the field we now know as animal law, she is affectionately referred to as “the mother of animal law.” She has been a trailblazer in the field of animal law for more than 40 years and has dedicated her career to improving the lives of nonhuman animals through the legal system. Joyce is internationally recognized for her work on issues germane to animal protection and farmed animals and speaks to audiences in many parts of the world, including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the UK, Belgium, Mexico, Kenya, Spain, Finland, and China. Joyce earned her law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law (J.D., 1977). She completed her bachelor’s degree in political science at City University of New York, Queens College (B.A., 1974). Professor Tischler lives near Portland, Oregon with her two dogs, Teddy and BooBoo and cat, Frankie.