Center for Animal Law Studies Announces New Global Ambassadors
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Our Global Ambassador Program (GAP) is an initiative launched in the fall of 2020 to further empower and support our talented alumni as they cultivate animal law education and advocacy. Our Animal Law LLM alumni were invited to submit proposals to become the first CALS Ambassadors, with the first round of recipients announced in January. We are pleased to now announce the second round of recipients.
Congratulations to: Ever Vimbai Chinoda (Zimbabwe), Tara Cooley (U.S.), Alice DiConcetto (France), Tony Gerrans (South Africa), Hira Jaleel (Pakistan), Gladys Kamasanyu (Uganda), Diego Plaza (Chile), and Lu Shegay (Kazakhstan). Each of these CALS Ambassadors will receive a grant to support their work to pioneer animal law through advocacy, education, and outreach in their home countries and beyond. A special thank you to the International Society of Animal Rights (ISAR), which is helping to fund grants for our international students.
CALS Ambassadors have selected a rich variety of animal law issues to focus upon, develop scholarship, and raise awareness about during their GAP year. They are:
As the founder of Speak Out for Animals, a nonprofit she launched as an Animal Law LLM student, Ever is devoted to wildlife protection in Zimbabwe. For wildlife law to develop in Zimbabwe, she believes it is important to have statutes and case precedents consolidated in one textbook. Ever will be focusing on literature development, primarily publishing a wildlife law casebook to be used by students, prosecutors, and magistrates in court to guide their decisions and judgments.
As the UConn Animal Law Teaching Fellow, Tara is implementing several new projects related to Connecticut’s Courtroom Animal Advocate Program (CAAP) law—Desmond’s Law. Tara is working with UConn Law Professor Jessica Rubin to implement a new specialized animal cruelty diversionary program to address the absence of an accelerated pretrial rehabilitation program in Connecticut that meets the needs of cruelty offenders. Tara and Professor Rubin are also providing training and support to various states to assist in the implementation of CAAPs nationwide, including the development of a multi-state CAAP implementation guide.
Over the course of her GAP year, Alice will conduct three publication projects: a report on animals in the clothing industry; a collection of student essays on European Union (EU) animal law aspects; and a quarterly publication of a newsletter and research notes. These projects will provide animal law experts and advocates with high-quality updates on the latest animal law and policy developments in the EU.
In November of 2021, Tony will speak at the 5th Annual African Animal Welfare Conference, scheduled to be held in Accra, Ghana. The theme of the conference is ONE HEALTH ONE WELFARE - For A Better and Greener Tomorrow. Tony will be presenting on how the One Welfare framework might be used to advance legal protections of farmed animals across Africa.
During the course of the GAP Year, Hira intends to develop an open-access website that will contain a repository of information about animal law in Pakistan. Furthermore, Hira plans to conduct a number of webinars on animal legal developments in Pakistan, along with researching and writing the first ever comprehensive textbook on animal law in Pakistan. Hira also aims to use her GAP funding to institute strategic impact litigation on behalf of animals in Pakistan. Lastly, one of her key objectives is to involve law students and young lawyers from Pakistan in these GAP projects to perpetuate animal law as a field in the country.
As part of her efforts with the nonprofit she founded during her Animal Law LLM studies with us—Help African Animals—Gladys will be designing, producing, and distributing a compendium of all animal protection laws in Uganda to make available to advocates and local communities. Her hope is to spread knowledge about animal protection laws to other Ugandans to create awareness, foster change, and advance the cause of her nonprofit.
During this GAP year, Diego will work through CEDA Chile and Fundación Justicia Interespecie (FJI) to lead several actions to advance non-human interests in Chile. On an academic level, he plans to continue coordinating activities in schools and universities, as well as organizing and participating in international instances, all aimed at addressing animal issues. In addition, through FJI he will lead strategic litigation projects, participate in the “Subjects Not Objects” campaign, which aims to include non-human animals as legal persons in the new Constitution, and coordinate other kinds of animal activism. However, the main project of this year will be the creation of the first animal legal publishing house in Chile for two pieces of work: one of a legal nature; and the other one in charge of the intersectional literature area of CEDA Chile (CEDA ALI), which will address animal issues from non-legal, intersectional, and feminist perspectives.
Lu Shegay will be leading the project “International Institute of Animal Law,” which will serve as an educational platform for students across the country, where they will have an opportunity to engage in legal research, seminars, workshops, and expand their knowledge in animal law. The Institute will be providing legal research on animal law, mentoring young researchers, organizing seminars and research workshops with the participation of lawyers, veterinary doctors, researchers in the fields of animal psychology and animal ethics. The Institute will also be networking with Kazakhstani and foreign animal law scholars and experts, lobbying on animal-related legal issues, and preparing publications.
Please join us in congratulating our ambitious and talented CALS Ambassadors. Their work will advance the interests of animals and further enrich this burgeoning area of the law. We’re proud to support the next generation of animal law attorneys and can’t wait to see all they accomplish.
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. CALS offers the world’s first and only advanced legal degree in Animal Law, now available both in person or online. In addition, CALS is the only program that offers an advanced legal degree in animal law and multiple clinics and experiential learning opportunities.
