Our most recent work ranges from uncovering a secret USDA policy while working to promote better standards of care for primates in research facilities, to petitioning the federal Fish & Wildlife Service to provide full protection to captive Canada lynx under the Endangered Species Act, to leading collaborative international research into the link between live animal markets and zoonotic disease.

And the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled in our favor in an Endangered Species Act lawsuit that underscores the intersection between animals and climate change. 

In that case, our Animal Law & Policy Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of six scientists supporting a challenge to the Trump Administration’s refusal to list the Pacific walrus as “threatened” after deeply discounting the future negative impacts of global warming on Arctic sea ice.  

The brief was drafted primarily by HLS students Rebecca Garverman ’21 and Ashley Maiolatesi ’20, with support from Clinical Fellow Kate Barnekow. Rebecca was thrilled while watching the oral argument when one of the judges directly quoted a passage she had written in the brief. 

Earlier this month, our Faculty Director Kristen Stilt spoke on a panel about factory farming law as part of the Jeremy Coller Foundation’s conference Rethinking Protein: Accelerating Law and Policy in the Global Food System.

After a challenging year of learning and teaching remotely, we want to thank our Clinic Director Katherine Meyer for maintaining such an engaging clinical experience for our students working on such a thriving docket of projects. We also would like to thank our outgoing Clinical Instructor Nicole Negowetti for the past two years helping with the Clinic’s successful launch. Nicole recently transitioned to her next chapter as the Senior Director of Policy for the Plant-Based Foods Association.