HSUS, George Washington University Law School
Announce New Animal Law Clinic
Groundbreaking Program Will Give Animal Law
Students Practical Experience in the Courts
WASHINGTON, May 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As a
growing number of law schools across the country
add animal law to their curriculum, The Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS) and George
Washington University Law School (GW Law School)
today announced the creation of the Animal Law
Litigation Project, a joint venture that will improve
enforcement of the nation's animal protection laws by
giving students clinical experience representing the
interests of animals in the courts.
The clinic will offer a select group of highly qualified
GW Law School students a chance to work side-by-
side with The HSUS's experienced legal staff on
cutting edge animal protection cases. Clinical
students will enroll in a new course at GW Law
School -- Animal Law Lawyering -- and receive credit
for their work on federal and state court cases to
protect whales, dolphins, manatees, and other
wildlife, to improve the treatment of performing
animals and animals used in research, and to prevent
the systematic mistreatment of animals in factory
farms.
The new litigation project will be co-managed by
Professor Joan Schaffner of GW Law School and
Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president of animal protection
litigation for The HSUS.
"The Animal Law Litigation Project represents an
unprecedented alliance between a humane
organization and one of our nation's leading law
schools to move animal law out of the classroom and
into the nation's courtrooms," said Lovvorn, who also
co-teaches an animal law seminar at GW Law School
with Nancy Perry, HSUS's vice president of
government affairs. "By giving law students an
opportunity to work on real cases along side
experienced litigators, this project will bridge the gap
between theory and practice, and demonstrate that
animal law, like environmental law, is a forceful tool
for effecting meaningful change in our society."
The announcement of the new clinic comes just a
few months after The HSUS's formation of an animal
protection litigation section to implement new,
precedent-setting legal campaigns on behalf of
animals. With a staff of eight full-time lawyers, the
new section is the largest in-house animal protection
litigation department in the country, and offers
several "litigation fellowships" for exceptional law
school graduates each year. The new clinic will
significantly expand The HSUS's ability to provide
representation for animals, and help fulfill The HSUS's
and GW Law School's shared goal of providing
practical training the next generation of lawyers and
law students.
The Humane Society of the United States represents
nearly nine million members and constituents. The
non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for
animals, with active programs in companion animals
and equine protection, disaster preparedness and
response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in
research and farm animals and sustainable
agriculture. The HSUS protects all animals through
litigation, investigation, education, legislation,
advocacy and fieldwork. The group is based in
Washington and has numerous field representatives
across the country.
Accredited by the American Bar Association and a
charter member of the Association of American Law
Schools, the George Washington Law School enrolls
approximately 1,750 students each year. The law
school is one of the leading schools in the country on
animal law, with an active animal welfare pro bono
project devoted to researching and improving animal
welfare laws in the District of Columbia, an annual
seminar on animal law and wildlife protection, and an
active chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense
Fund. The law school also hosted the first Animal Law
Legislative Drafting and Lobbying Competition in April
2005, in conjunction with the National Center for
Animal Law.
Contact: Rachel Querry of the Humane Society of the
United States, 301-258-8255; rquerry@hsus.org
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