Industrial Animal Agriculture Law

NOTE: This course is available in-person for JD/LLM/MSL students, or as an Online Section designed for LLM and MSL Distance Students only. Each section has its own course description. Check the current catalog or WebAdvisor to see which section is offered in any given year. See the note* below about eligibility for the Online Section for JDs, MSLs, and residential LLMs and MSLs .

Industrial Animal Agriculture Law - Professor Hira Jaleel

• Course Number: LAW-451 In-Person Section 
• Course Type: Highly Specialized
• Credits: 2
• Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
• Description: Industrialized animal agriculture, such as raising animals in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), has become the dominant method of food production in the United States. However, this method of food production has extensive implications for animal welfare, human health and safety and the environment. This course examines the legal framework underlying the industrialized use of animals for food. Students will examine the conditions in which CAFO animals are raised, transported, and slaughtered, as well as U.S. federal and state laws and policies that impact animal welfare, the environment, environmental justice, global food sustainability, cultural and religious values, free speech, public health concerns, and international trade. Students will explore legal and policy issues related to the production, distribution, and consumption of animal-derived foods, including legislation, litigation, regulation, ballot initiatives, and consumer campaigns, and they will report on developments occurring in the U.S., as well as countries outside the U.S.
• Prerequisite: none
• Evaluation Method: Participation, presentations, short assignments, final exam.
• Capstone: no
• WIE: no

Industrial Animal Agriculture Law - Professor Cynthia von Schlichten

• Course Number: LAW-451 LLM  and MSL Distance Students*
• Course Type: Highly Specialized
• Credits: 3
• Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
• Description: Each year, over 90 billion land animals are killed globally for food. In the U.S., 98 percent of all land animals killed are farmed animals: animals who are born, raised, and slaughtered for food. In addition, fish are raised and slaughtered for food in the trillions. The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the industrial factory farm model that has become the standard for animal-derived food production. This will include exploring the methods in which farmed animals are raised, transported, and usually slaughtered, as well as the regulations and laws that perpetuate this system and fail to instill accountability for the industries’ practices. The course will also look at factory farming, not only in the U.S. where it was born and continues to grow, but in other countries that have begun to adopt this model of animal-derived food production and the subsequent implications of their exposure to this system. In addition to exploring the effects factory farming has on the animals that are housed in its system, this course will also look at the impact the factory farming industry has on the environment, its workers, the neighboring communities, human health, and its role in the rise and perpetuation of pandemics that have impacted both non-human animals and humans.
• Prerequisite: none
• Evaluation Method: participation, quizzes, short assignments, final exam
• Capstone: no
• WIE: no

Notes for LC JDs, MSLs, and residential LLMs and MSLs:

*This class is for online LLM and MSL students. In-person students may petition the Associate Dean of Students, Libby Davis, and Global Animal Law and Advanced Degree Programs Director, Raj Reddy, to take the online version if they have a compelling reason for doing so: eadavis@lclark.edu and rajreddy@lclark.edu

Those students should consult the distance learning policy prior to signing up for distance learning courses.