Cynthia comes to the Lewis & Clark Law School’s Animal Law LLM program with twelve years of experience as an attorney. She is currently the Senior Manager of Legal Affairs for Farm Sanctuary, Inc. Through her work with Farm Sanctuary, Cynthia navigates the legal challenges of day-to-day operational issues, as well as those associated with countless rescues, including those involving cruelty cases. She also provides input and review on the organization’s advocacy work involving litigation and legislative efforts.
Giving animals a voice in our legal system was always Cynthia’s primary motivation for becoming an attorney. Cynthia graduated from Widener University’s Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 2009, where she founded the school’s chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and served as its President for four years. Prior to coming to work for Farm Sanctuary, Cynthia gained valuable legal experience in private practice for several years, handling primarily estates, civil litigation, and disability law cases. During that time, she kept active in animal advocacy by sitting on the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee and chairing a sub-committee that drafted a model feral cat ordinance for municipalities. In addition to her work in private practice, Cynthia also worked in various capacities at a number of animal rights/protection organizations, including the American Anti-Vivisection Society, Alley Cat Allies, and Compassion in World Farming.
In addition to working for Farm Sanctuary, Cynthia is currently a member of several law and policy coalitions among animal rights nonprofit organizations. She is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee and Agricultural Animal Law Sub-Committee. She also volunteers for a local rescue and shares her home with nine cats.
For over 20 years, Cynthia has been a vegan and an active participant in this movement and remains impassioned about taking on the challenges ahead to make the world a better place for animals. Cynthia is honored to be attending the Animal Law LLM program, where she is excited to be learning from and with such amazing professionals in the field and is confident that the program will help to provide her with the tools she needs to be an effective legal advocate for animals.
Read some of Cynthia’s work here.