Payton Brianne earned her JD from California Western School of Law in 2023, followed by an Entertainment Law Certificate in 2025. She began her legal career in criminal defense where she worked on a variety of cases from traffic court and juvenile diversion to adult misdemeanors and felonies. Today, she works in entertainment law, negotiating contracts for her clients with major networks and production companies.
Throughout her entire adult life, Payton has fostered and volunteered with local animal rescues. In 2024, she wanted to do more so she co-founded Compassionate Canine Society, a nonprofit dedicated to companion animal rescue and education. While she thoroughly loves providing direct care to the animals in the rescue, she knew more needed to be done to effect real change. This is where her passion project, Empathy for Animals, was born. Empathy for Animals is an animal assisted educational program designed to teach empathy and compassion through interactive, hands-on lessons.
Her long-term vision is to expand Empathy Animals into a national diversion program, advocating for what she calls “a second chance for both ends of the leash.” She hopes to combine her legal skills, nonprofit leadership, and advocacy work through the Animal Law LLM program to create systemic change for animals and the people who care for them.