Femke believes that in the coming decades, animal rights will play an increasingly prominent role and that legal systems must be more inclusive of non-human animals. Her goal is to gain as much knowledge as possible about the fundamentals of animal law, to use this knowledge to create a world where non-human animals are considered and treated as dignified beings.
Femke studied law at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She then completed an LLM in German law magna cum laude at the Albert-Ludwigs Universität in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany).
After this, Femke started deepening her knowledge of animal rights. As a lecturer in Foundations of Law, she tries to introduce students to this new topic. She writes weekly for the news website called AnimalsToday (of the Dutch foundation House of Animals) about current affairs within animal law, is a board member of the Dutch Association of Animal Rights Law (DAARL) and campaigns against a Dutch zoo. Furthermore, in 2024 she wrote an essay for the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law competition, for which she received the third prize. She completed two summer courses in animal law in the summer of 2024 (Radboud University and Antwerp University) and is determined to continue her work within animal law.
“I am interested in how and on what grounds a legal system can be arranged so that it does justice to the position of non-human animals on the one hand, and is feasible for society on the other.”
Femke is excited to join the Lewis and Clark Animal Law community and to be surrounded by like-minded non-human animal lovers.