Kathleen comes to the Animal LLM program with over twenty years’ experience in corporate and intellectual property law, and currently practices in Boulder, Colorado at an intellectual property firm. For many years, she has been deeply concerned about the welfare of nonhuman animals in the U.S. and abroad. Considering the interconnectedness of animal welfare, habitat, human involvement, and the climate crisis, she like many others recognize that the issues we face are global and require an urgent worldwide response. She decided to enroll in the LLM Program to learn substantive animal law and related jurisprudence so as to work more effectively on behalf of the issues we face, especially the harmful and unfair impact on the nonhuman animals of our planet.
In the past several years, Kathleen has been involved in local wildlife projects, such as the Boulder County Wildlife Project and the “The Wild Animal Sanctuary” located in Colorado. These interests led to an introduction to the WILD Foundation, an international organization dedicated to facilitating a global holistic approach to the current challenges. Her personal connections with the founders of the WILD Foundation were a springboard for the decision to go deeper into the legal aspects for animal rights.
Recognizing that there is an existing body of law that addresses animal rights domestically and internationally, she decided that an LLM was an effective gateway to this area of the law. In addition to learning the substantive law, she seeks an opportunity to meet like-minded attorneys, advocates, and representatives of governmental and civilian organizations. With these connections and skills, she hopes to be involved in coalitions to enable solutions to the issues we - and our nonhuman friends - face.
Read some of Kathleen’s work here.