Biographical Sketch
Joan E. Schaffner is an associate professor of law at GW Law School. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering and J.D. from the University of Southern California and her M.S. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked at the law firm of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles California and clerked for the Honorable Marianna Pfaelzer in the Central District of California before coming to GW.

Professor Schaffner teaches Civil Procedure, Remedies, Sexuality and the Law, and an animal law seminar and writes in these areas as well. She is the faculty advisor to Lambda Law, the GLBT student organization at GW, and is faculty advisor and editor-in-chief of the American Intellectual Property Law Association Quarterly Journal.

Professor Schaffner directs the GW Animal Law Program which consists of the GW Animal Welfare Project (AWP), a pro bono effort of faculty and students devoted to researching and improving animal welfare laws in the District of Columbia; seminars in animal law; and a student chapter of the Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF). Professor Schaffner co-directs the Animal Welfare Project and is the faculty advisor to SALDF.

Professor Schaffner is the co-editor and a contributing author of Litigating Animal Law Disputes: A Complete Guide for Lawyers (ABA 2009) and is the editor and a contributing author of A Lawyer’s Guide to Dangerous Dog Issues (ABA 2009).

Additionally, Professor Schaffner has testified on behalf of non-breed-specific dangerous dog laws and has presented on animal law panels at conferences world-wide. She is various organizations including: Chair (2009-10), Publications Vice-Chair, and Newsletter Vice-Chair of the ABA TIPS Animal Law Committee, founding chair of the AALS Section on Animal Law (2008), consumer member for the District of Columbia Board of Veterinary Medicine, and fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

Education
B.S., J.D., University of Southern California; M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Current Semester Courses
Intellectual Property Law Jrnl