Symposium

Schedule

8:45 - Free Vegan Breakfast and Check-In

9:10 - Symposium Editor Opening Remarks

9:15 - Joyce Tischler’s Opening Remarks*

9:45 - Environmental Law as Animal Law: Fighting Industrial Animal Agriculture by Christine Ball-Blakely

This presentation will examine the opportunities and challenges of using environmental law – including federal, state, and common law – to fight industrial animal agriculture. It will also highlight relevant cases and efforts, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s ongoing case against Foster Poultry Farms, Inc. This presentation will also include a discussion of the critical role of environmental policy and regulatory advocacy, especially in the context of ever-increasing industry power and consolidation.

10:30 - CAFO Enforcement under RCRA and the Clean Water Act by Charles Tebbutt

Using science and the law, Charlie has opened the field for young lawyers to follow in his footsteps. Wherever CAFOs exist, pollution is present. This is an opportunity to pick Charlie’s brain about the Cow Palace, Bosma, and WA Court of Appeals decisions that set the foundation for actions against CAFOs across the country. Reading the decisions before the session is highly recommended.

11:15 - 10 Minute Break

11:25 - The False Promise of Manure Biogas, aka Factory Farm Gas by Tyler Lobdell

The factory farm industry is pairing up with Big Oil and Gas in an aggressive attempt to greenwash both industries’ images. But far from transforming factory farms or our energy system into “renewable” or “clean” systems as they claim, factory farm gas production and the massive public incentives flowing to such projects are exacerbating climate change, harming communities, and forcing more animals into the largest confinement operations around the country. This presentation will explain what factory farm gas is, why it’s so dangerous, and ways to oppose it.

12:10 - Addressing Environmental Justice Concerns inside and outside the Courtroom by Jasmine Washington

This presentation will explore the challenges related to environmental justice litigation in the context of industrial animal agriculture. She will preview the cumulative impacts and industry influences that present a nearly substantial barrier to litigation, and the ongoing threats to civil rights as it relates to environmental law. She will also outline opportunities for achieving environmental justice outside the courtroom.

12:55 - Free Vegan Lunch

1:30 - Fighting for an Equitable Workplace for Slaughterhouse Workers through Litigation by David Muraskin

With the mass consolidation of meatpacking companies, the innately mentally and physically taxing job of working in slaughterhouses has become even more harrowing as line speeds increase and wages decrease. This presentation will discuss safety and other workplace concerns commonly faced by slaughterhouse workers and the litigation tools used by FarmSTAND to fight for a more equitable workplace. These tools include using Title VII, administrative law, tort, and state claims.

2:15 - Consumer Protection Laws: Strategic Impact Litigation for Animals by Amanda Howell*

During this presentation, Amanda will discuss the mechanisms, advantages, and challenges in using consumer protection laws to benefit animals. We will address how class actions can serve as strategic impact litigation. Using laws designed to curb false advertising to consumers, we can thwart humane-washing and green-washing, and in turn decrease demand for products produced by CAFOs, which exploit not only animals and the environment but also consumers who increasingly are trying to buy products that reflect their concerns and values.

3:00 - 10 Minute Break

3:10 - Disrupting Industrial Animal Agriculture through the Criminal Justice System by Will Lowrey

While civil litigation holds great promise for challenging the exploitation of animals in industrial animal agriculture, the criminal justice system—although often overlooked—offers its own tools for combatting institutionalized cruelty. On one hand, state specific legal procedures allow private citizens the possibility of holding agriculture corporations accountable for criminal animal cruelty and neglect. On the other hand, by uncovering public records and body cam videos, open government laws offer a glimpse into alliances between law enforcement and the animal agriculture industry that are designed to target activists and shield the public from the horrors of factory farming.

3:55 - Litigating for Farmed Animals: Creative Strategies by Kathryn Evans and Sarah Gold

Join Sarah and Kathryn, legal advocates from Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC), as they delve into practical legal strategies for holding corporations accountable for illegal animal cruelty. This session will explore shareholder lawsuits and using the power of investors to influence corporate practices as well as unlocking existing laws through identifying untapped legal avenues to enforce animal cruelty protections. Leave this talk empowered to make a difference for animals in factory farms.

4:40 - 4:50 Closing Remarks

* denotes that speaker will present in-person and on Zoom; presenters without an asterisk will present on Zoom only and will not attend the event in-person

Recording any portion of this event is prohibited. By attending this event, you are agreeing not to record it.

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Suggested Readings Here

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Register Here

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Pricing: Free!

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6 General Oregon CLE Credits

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Since past Symposiums have been recorded—you can view details about those events and the recordings here.