The Animal Legal Education Initiative
GW Law and the Animal Legal Defense Fund have partnered to develop the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI), dedicated to developing Animal Law as a stand-alone legal discipline that is fully integrated into the legal academy. ALEI will provide opportunities for local, regional, national, and international faculty and students to collaborate on the development and integration of a comprehensive body of Animal Law and increase the capacity for, and rigor of, Animal Law teaching.
About ALEI
- Purpose of the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI)
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The purpose of the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI) is two-fold. First, to be the catalyst for the work required to fully incorporate Animal Law into the legal academy as a core, stand-alone discipline with synergies and benefits both to and from already existing disciplines. Second, to be the leader in developing innovative animal legal education initiatives through scholarship, curriculum development, improved access, and policy.
As the institutional home for ALEI, GW Law will be framing, guiding, supporting, and managing this work. In addition to the teaching, scholarship, curricular development, and faculty training that will benefit GW Law students and faculty, ALEI will also be a resource for others engaging in these endeavors.
GW Law already offers more Animal Law courses than many law schools and has an existing Animal Law program, including the Animal Welfare Pro Bono Project. GW Law also has faculty who are producing Animal Law scholarship and teaching Animal Law, an active Animal Legal Defense Fund student chapter, as well as significant student interest. Additionally, GW Law’s strong clinical program and other important programs and centers make it well suited for the anticipated growth of ALEI.
- Addressing an Unmet Need
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ALEI will be a unique endeavor in legal education. While there are two centers focused on improving law teaching generally, and a handful of Animal Law programs, there is no program focused on the development of a discipline that comprehensively addresses Animal Law scholarship, curriculum development, and policy. ALEI is designed to fill this void—focusing on Animal Law scholarship, education, and the development of an Animal Law discipline more broadly, while simultaneously providing opportunities for students to learn and practice Animal Law. ALEI will not compete with existing Animal Law programs, but instead will seek to include them in a proposed collaborative consortium.
- Role of the Animal Legal Defense Fund
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The mission of the Animal Legal Defense Fund is to protect the lives and advance the interests of nonhuman animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect nonhuman animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are held accountable for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and animal fighting legislation harmful to nonhuman animals, and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of Animal Law.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund recognizes that its ongoing work, the work of other animal protection organizations, and the development of Animal Law all depend on having knowledgeable and skilled attorneys in the legal academy, legal practice, and in the nonhuman animal protection movement. ALEI will be foundational to ensuring Animal Law is fully integrated into the legal academy as a legal discipline and that law schools have the resources they need to train Animal Law attorneys.
The mission of the Animal Legal Defense Fund is to protect the lives and advance the interests of nonhuman animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect nonhuman animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are held accountable for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and animal fighting legislation harmful to nonhuman animals, and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of Animal Law.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund recognizes that its ongoing work, the work of other animal protection organizations, and the development of Animal Law all depend on having knowledgeable and skilled attorneys in the legal academy, legal practice, and in the nonhuman animal protection movement. ALEI will be foundational to ensuring Animal Law is fully integrated into the legal academy as a legal discipline and that law schools have the resources they need to train Animal Law attorneys.
What We Do
As ALEI grows it will encompass a variety of activities, including the following:
- Producing scholarship
- Teaching
- Advancing opportunities in Animal Law for students from minority or disadvantaged communities to increase diversity in the profession
- Developing faculty, personnel, and resources
- Increasing students’ ability to successfully find employment within the Animal Law field
- Offering clinical education
- Exploring intersectionality with other disciplines
- Building collaborations
Resource Materials