The Center for Animal Law Studies Announces 2021-2022 CALS Ambassadors

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) at Lewis & Clark Law School has been the worldwide leader in animal law education for over a decade—and the only program in the world to provide an advanced legal degree in animal law. Our talented alumni in action are making a difference for animals across the globe and facilitating the growth of animal law in their home countries. This fall we announced the launch of our Global Ambassador Program (GAP), a new initiative to further empower and support our talented Animal Law LLM alumni. Through an application process, CALS alumni were invited to submit proposals to become the first CALS Ambassadors under the GAP. Our CALS Ambassadors will receive a grant to support their work to pioneer animal law education through advocacy and outreach in their home countries and beyond.

Introducing Our 2021-22 CALS Ambassadors

We’re pleased to introduce our 2021-2022 CALS Ambassadors and share the animal law projects and initiatives that will be the focus of their GAP Year:

Tess Vickery (Australia) & Tony Gerrans (South Africa)

Tess Vickery

Our 2019 Animal LLM Alumni, Tony Gerrans and Tess Vickery, will be working together to research, organize, and present a Seminar on recent Global Animal Law Developments. The Seminar will provide a focused and accessible opportunity to stay up to date with the latest developments in animal law around the world. The Seminar also intends for Animal Law LLM Alumni to take these lessons back to their home countries to further their work in animal law domestically.

Anthony Gerrans

This project will also provide a new opportunity for Animal Law LLM Alumni to establish and maintain contact with each other and with CALS, and will encourage future collaboration projects outside of the Seminar.

Diego Plaza Casanova

Diego Plaza (Chile)

Our 2020 Animal Law Alumni, Diego Plaza, founded a nonprofit animal protection organization in his home country called Center for Chilean Animal Law Studies or “CEDA Chile” (which stands for “Centro de Estudios de Derecho Animal” in Spanish). Through CEDA Chile, Diego will collaborate with various professionals to carry out educational activities aimed at addressing diverse content, such as the industrial production of animals, the latest scientific advances in animal cognition and emotion, and even the presentation of the very first work of intersectional non-legal literature. He will also coordinate the development, conclusion, and publishing of various pieces of legal research in Chilean animal law, lead the implementation of an internship program for law students at CEDA Chile, and design an Animal Law Syllabus inspired by his experience in our Animal Law LLM Program to present to law schools in Chile.

Zihao YuZihao Yu (China)

Our 2020 Animal Law LLM Alumni, Zihao Yu, was among our first students from China. As a CALS Ambassador, Zihao will develop a Farm Animal Welfare in Mainland China Project to focus on improving the awareness of animal welfare for animals used in agriculture in mainland China through education. The activities that Zihao has planned to achieve the Project’s goals include: field research, a debate competition, and webinars all designed for law students, activists, and scholars in China.

Lyudmila ShegayLyudmila Shegay (Kazakhstan)

Our 2020 Animal Law LLM Alumni, Lyudmila (Lu) Shegay, has created a project called “Enhancing Legal Regulations of Aquatic Animals in Kazakhstan” that aims to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of human activities on aquatic animals and the need to extend legal protections to aquatic animals. The Project will focus on education as a tool to protect animals, such as creating and sharing webinars by experts from across the globe to share their experience and knowledge about aquatic animals, as well as how the issues of fishing, aquariums, and farming are handled within their countries. Lu also plans to launch the first Animal Law Conference in Kazakhstan with a focus on cruelty to animals used for entertainment.

Please join us in congratulating our first CALS Ambassadors! We look forward to sharing updates on their work.

A special thank you to Animal Charity Evaluators, who generously provided a Movement Grant to support the GAP.

The Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) was founded in 2008 with a mission to educate the next generation of animal law attorneys and advance animal protection through the law. With vision and bold risk-taking, CALS has since developed into a world-renowned animal law epicenter, with the most comprehensive animal law curriculum offered anywhere. In addition, CALS is the only program that offers an advanced legal degree in animal law and three specialty Animal Law Clinics. CALS is a fully self-funded nonprofit organization operating under the Lewis & Clark College 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and is only able to provide these educational opportunities through donations and grants.