Animal Law News
News
July 2018
Professor Joan Schaffner spoke to A Vegan Life about her work as a GW Law professor and head of the Animal Law focus area.
January 2018
Congratulations to Professor Joan E. Schaffner on receiving the 2018 Section on Animal Law Award by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). She was honored at the organization's annual meeting in San Diego.
December 2017
In a new podcast interview, Professor Joan E. Schaffner spoke about her work with the American Bar Association (ABA) Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section's Animal Law Committee and their recent efforts to help community cats in an episode of "Our Hen House."
January 2015
GW Law Students and alumni were recognized at the National Coalition on Violence Against Animals annual meeting for their outstanding work summarizing (and updating) the state anti-cruelty statutes and case law for the GW Animal Welfare Project and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
Congratulations to GW Law Students: Danielle Caputo, Alyssa Clark, Nicholas Haley, Mike Jayne, Joshua Loigman, and Rebecca Schwartz and to GW Law alums Cynthia LeFavre, Laurel Palluzi, and Allison Schiebelhut.
January 2015
Professor Joan Schaffner was named the 2015 Chair of the American Association of Law Schools' Section on Animal Law.
July 2014
The GW Animal Law Program supported the creation of the National Law Enforcement Center on Animal Abuse by the National Sheriffs Association to address the lack of awareness by law enforcement in the United States about the realities of animal abuse, and to promote their proactive involvement in the enforcement of animal abuse laws, and to help them deal with officer/dog encounters.
May 2014
Congratulations to Laurel Palluzi, JD '13, winner of the David S. Favre Best Student Note and Mary Ann Norman Fellowship for her note entitled "Four-legged Tenants: Encouraging Pet-Friendly Housing While Protecting Landlords from Liability" recently published in the Mid-Atlantic Journal on Law and Public Policy.
Publications, Books & Awards
Our Hen House Podcast
Episode 413: Adam Sugalski and Richard Angelo & Joan Schaffner
GW Law Students Successful at 10th Annual National Animal Law Competition
First Place - Legislative Drafting the Lobbying Competition
Ann Porter
Second Place - Appellate Moot Court Competition
Madelin Cohen & Peter Ormerod
"Animal Cruelty and the Law: Permitted Conduct," by Professor Joan Schaffner
As a part of Animal Cruelty: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding, an anthology that addresses all aspects of animal cruelty, Professor Schaffner’s chapter discusses legally permissible treatment of animals used for food, research and entertainment in institutional settings exempt from the anti-cruelty laws yet arguably in violation of their standards.
Introduction to Animals and the Law, by Professor Joan Schaffner
Throughout history, humans have raised and confined animals for food, clothing and research, trained animals for entertainment, fought animals for sport, bought and sold animals for profit, and lived with animals for companionship. The law under the umbrella of 'animal law' regulates these human uses and interactions with animals. Animal law is extremely diverse, cutting across every substantive area, jurisdictional boundary, and source of legal authority. Although most countries have enacted Animal Welfare Acts and Endangered Species Laws, the law is currently designed primarily to protect the interests of humans as owners of animals, or as users of environmental resources. The animals' inherent interests, if considered, are secondary.
This text surveys the laws allegedly designed to protect animals, identifies the themes that link them, analyzes and critiques them in light of their consideration and protection of animals' interests, and explores characteristics of a future legal system that would adequately protect animals' inherent interests.
Professor Joan Schaffner receives the 2009 Henry Bergh Leadership Award for unwavering commitment to ending the systematic killing of animals in U.S. shelters.
Two groundbreaking books on animal law have been recently published by the American Bar Association under the auspices of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section's Animal Law Committee (the Committee).
Professor Joan Schaffner is co-editor and contributing author of Litigating Animal Law Disputes: A Complete Guide for Lawyers and is the sole editor and contributing author of A Lawyer's Guide to Dangerous Dog Issues.
Professor Schaffner is Publications Vice-Chair and Newsletter Vice-Chair of the Committee and will take over as Chair of the Committee at the ABA annual meeting in Chicago in August 2009. Two new groundbreaking books on animal law have been recently published by the American Bar Association under the auspices of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section's Animal Law Committee (the Committee).
Professor Schaffner is Publications Vice-Chair and Newsletter Vice-Chair of the Committee and will take over as Chair of the Committee at the ABA annual meeting in Chicago in August 2009.