A variety of animal law-related issues are being considered by U.S. courts with increasing frequency. Should society treat the act of breaking a table leg the same as your dog’s leg? Should the legal system allow for emotional damages when someone intentionally harms your family pet? Will an animal’s property inheritance survive legal challenges? Are breed specific laws that ban dogs deemed “vicious” solely by breed and not by behavior constitutional?

Animal law entails a breadth of issues including wrongful death litigation, abusive commercial practices, such as factory farming, veterinarian medical malpractice, the protection of animal activists’ constitutional rights, defense at vicious-dog hearings, products liability litigation, the competing interests of wild animals and urban, farming, and recreational land use, and transactional issues, such as drafting estates and trusts.

Three law schools now have law reviews dedicated solely to animal law, approximately 70 law schools, including the University of Florida, now offer courses and seminars in animal law, and 80 schools have animal law associations. David Hoch, who teaches the UF seminar, suggests that “we must begin a societal discussion of what moral consideration, if any, we owe to animals, and if we conclude that we are morally obliged to at least some animals, then we must determine the best ways to recognize and manifest that incumbency through law.”

This semester, Harvard University will host an Animal Law Conference, with discussion on legal strategies to stop the abuse of companion animals, as well as animals abused in industries.

The University of Florida has an active Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) chapter called the Animal Law Association (ALA). For many, the idea of animal law becoming mainstream is welcome news. The reality is that there is much more to be accomplished.

David Wolfson, a partner at a major law firm who teaches and practices animal law, said, “I’m running after a train that I know I have to catch. I know that I’m running quicker than I used to. The problem seems to be that the train is going a little faster than it used to be, too.”

For more information on Harvard University’s upcoming Animal Law Conference or the University of Florida’s Animal Law Association chapter, stop by the group’s next meeting on Thursday, March 29, at noon (room to be announced) or contact Charles King at animallawassociation@gmail.com.

Among the highlights, Jill Zilligen, vice president, sustainable business practices at Nau, Inc. gave a fascinating view into a start-up outdoor apparel company with a central focus on sustainability at the opening reception. At the Friday evening banquet, Ray Anderson (pictured above), founder and chairman of Interface, provided a detailed picture of how a focus on sustainability enables a company to reap significant financial benefits while minimizing the costs it externalizes on the rest of society. The facts and figures Anderson cited made it abundantly clear that a large part of sustainability is simply good business practices that should interest every business leader focused on the bottom line.

The final session featured Phyllis Harris, vice president for environmental compliance at Wal-Mart, and John Henry Hankinson, who concluded with the rousing song “Testify,” written specially for the conference and performed (with harmonica) by Hankinson (with audience assistance on the refrain). Special thanks to all the ELULS Public Interest Committee members who helped in organizing and moderating the 12 very successful panels that spanned Friday and Saturday. —ELULP Director Alyson Flournoy

The title of Judge Barkett’s lecture is “Judicial Discretion and Judicious Deliberation.” Judge Barkett, who earned her J.D. from UF Law in 1970, was the first woman justice on the Florida Supreme Court, sitting as an associate justice from 1985 until 1992, when she was chosen by her colleagues to become the state’s first woman chief justice of that court.

The Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law series was established by U.S. Sugar Corporation and the law firms of Dunwody, White & Landon, P.A. and Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody & Cole in honor of UF Law graduates Elliot and Atwood Dunwody.