Avoiding Pitfalls When Using Science in Animal Law and Policy

Science is an integral part of animal law. Law practitioners who are familiar with the basic tenets of science are at an advantage in litigation, and creating good legislation and policy. Yet legal wrangling can lead to the misuse of science. It is critical for animal law students to avoid the limitations and distortions of scientific information that can undermine their arguments and cases.

In past webinars we have discussed how useful natural and social sciences are for legal efforts. In this webinar we explore some of the pitfalls students and practitioners should look out for when science is either not understood completely or is used incorrectly.

Legal scholar Kathy Hessler explores this issue with:

• Delcianna Winders, Vermont Law
• Lori Marino, Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans

Speaker Bios

Delcianna (Delci) Winders

Delcianna (Delci) Winders is associate professor of law at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the founding director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute, which is dedicated to supporting aspiring animal advocates through rigorous coursework in law and policy degrees, rewarding mentorships, and real-world training and experiences. Delci was previously on the faculty of Lewis & Clark Law School, where she founded and directed the Animal Law Litigation Clinic. She also served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement at the PETA Foundation, the first academic fellow in Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Program, and a visiting scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. She taught her first animal-law related course, Factory Farming and Animal Advocacy, more than two decades ago, while still an undergraduate student. Since then she has taught animal law courses nearly thirty times and at six different law schools. These courses include Animal Law, Animal Rights Law, Animal Welfare Law, Animal Law Practicum, Animal Protection Policy, and Science and Animal Law and Policy. She has also developed and shepherded additional animal law courses and mentored aspiring and new animal law instructors.

Lori Marino

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist who has studied animal behavior and intelligence for thirty years and was on the faculty of Emory University. She is Founder and Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and President of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Lori is internationally known for her work on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales (as well as primates and farmed animals). She has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles on comparative brain anatomy and cognition, self-awareness in nonhuman animals, human-nonhuman animal relationships, and the evolution of intelligence. Lori also has interests in bioethics and animal law and policy, and, in particular, in the intersection of science and law.

Moderator

Kathy Hessler is the inaugural Assistant Dean for Animal Legal Education at George Washington University Law School (GWU), and Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI), working with Joan Schaffner and Iselin Gambert, in a program made possible by generous support from ALDF.

Dean Hessler has been a clinical law professor for 30 years and has been teaching animal law for 22 years. She is the first law professor hired to teach animal law full-time. She received her JD from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary and her LLM from Georgetown University Law Center.

Dean Hessler helped develop the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School (L&C). For fourteen years she taught there and directed the Animal Law Clinic, which was named one of the top fifteen most innovative clinics in 2015. She also created and directed the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative and is the co-founder of World Aquatic Animal Day along with Amy P. Wilson.