How would you describe animal law to someone who doesn’t know anything about it?

Meg: Animal law is a dynamic and growing area of the law in Australia, covering a wide range of legal areas concerning animals and the human/animal relationship. As animals are present in so many different areas of our lives, the scope of animal law is consequently quite broad, reaching beyond traditional animal welfare legislation to many other areas of the law, including administrative law, consumer protection law, constitutional law, criminal law, environmental law, and more. Australians interact with animals as owners, consumers and citizens, and these complex relationships are part of the reason why animal law so often raises fascinating and important questions of science, ethics, philosophy and justice.

As a student, were you certain that animal law was the area that you wanted to practice in? If so, how did these aspirations originate? If not, what led you to practice animal law?

Meg: Although I had a passion for animal protection from early childhood onwards,  I originally studied law with the intention of becoming an environmental lawyer.  As animal law wasn’t offered as an elective during my studies, I didn’t realise  that animal law existed until  my final year  when  I attended a public  lecture by an RSPCA prosecutor. I was immediately attracted to it, and although I then commenced a PhD in environmental law, I continued to think about animal law. A year or so into my PhD, I heard that applications were open for the Voiceless Grants program. I applied successfully for a grant of $10,000 to run Tasmania’s first animal law conference to enable Tasmanian law students and lawyers to learn about this important area of the law. The conference was a crucial turning point for me. I was introduced to the wonderful animal law community we have here in Australia, and I was further educated on a number of truly concerning  issues, including how the law operates in many contexts to actively facilitate harm to animals. From there, I became more and more involved in the field on a purely voluntary basis. I was invited to take on roles with the Barristers Animal Welfare Panel and the Animal Law Institute,  and I was a regular speaker in the Voiceless Animal Law Lecture Series.  It was all of this voluntary work which eventually led to my current role at Voiceless.  

I decided to focus my career on animal law so that I could be a part of the social justice movement to reform our legal systems to better represent and protect the interests of animals. Law helps shape our views on what is ethically right and wrong, and in the context of animal protection, law has traditionally operated to justify a wide range of conduct that causes pain and suffering to animals. The status quo is unacceptable, and I strongly believe that through animal law education and animal law reform advocacy we can shift the way animals are valued under the law, and significantly improve the lives of millions of sentient animals across Australia.

Mike: I became a lawyer so I could help animals. That aspiration originated after I became aware of the horrifically cruel, yet legal, treatment of Australian animals who are exploited for food, fibre, secretions, experimentation and entertainment. While it is a crime to harm a pet animal, animals exploited for commercial purposes are almost entirely exempt from the protection of the criminal law. These animals are treated far worse than the most heinous criminals in our society (for example, see www.dominionmovement.com). Yet, the body of science known as animal welfare science clearly demonstrates that these higher order animals experience physical pain in a virtually identical manner to humans, and experience complex emotions (for example, read the book ‘Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel’).

In my opinion, no greater injustice exists in Australia than the legal treatment of animals exploited for commercial purposes. I think lawyers can play a part in ending that injustice by, among other things, critically analysing the legislation and case law that governs the treatment of animals, advocating for law reform to better protect animals, and advocating on behalf of animal interest groups.

“In my opinion, no greater injustice exists in Australia than the legal treatment of animals exploited for commercial purposes” — Mike Rosalky

Could you give us an overview of a day in your life as an animal lawyer?

Mike: K & R Animal Law’s day-to-day practice involves acting for human clients who have some type of connection with animals, where we think our involvement will benefit animals in some way. In practice, that means that we take on matters in a broad range of practice areas, including:

• Administrative law – Acting for animal-loving clients who have had adverse decisions made against them by government agencies.

• Property law – Acting for clients who dispute the ownership of an animal, as animals are currently classified as property under the law.

• Defamation law – Acting for animal loving clients who have been defamed.

• Criminal law – Advising clients about criminal charges laid against them where their conduct was aimed at benefiting animals.

• Corporate and commercial law – Advising animal charities about corporate structures and commercial arrangements.

• Legislation – Drafting submissions for animal charities about proposed government legislation affecting animals.

Meg: An average day may involve any of the following:

• Providing advice to the team & identifying legal issues;

• Ensuring we are in compliance with our charitable fundraising obligations;

• Reviewing and drafting agreements and other legal documents;

• Reviewing public-facing documents to ensure they contain factually accurate statements and don’t raise any legal issues;

• Creating animal law educational resources;

• Holding networking events for animal lawyers;

• Delivering presentations on topical animal law issues at universities;

• Supervising legal interns and volunteers;

• Liaising with pro bono lawyers;

• Researching the latest updates in animal law.

How do you think the animal law space will develop in the future?

Mike: I think we may see more strategic litigation cases that challenge things like the legal status of animals as property (for example, see the US-based ‘Nonhuman Rights Project’), and the conditions in which animals and humans are treated in factory farming facilities. I also think that at some point governments will start establishing independent agencies for animal welfare. In the best case scenario, these agencies would be responsible for developing the law governing animals to better align with the public’s expectation that animals should be protected from suffering. They would also be responsible for enforcing breaches of the law, such as animal cruelty offences. If these agencies are established, I anticipate that animal law would grow significantly because there would be government resources to support its growth.

Meg: I think there is huge potential for growth in animal law in Australia. There are more lawyers practising animal law across the country than ever before, with almost 20 law firms now offering animal law services. These are mainly small law firms, but there have been some larger law firms involved. For example, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers created an Animal Law Pilot Program a number of years ago, and Clifford Chance have also become involved recently, assisting Voiceless with legal and animal law education work. Australia’s first generalist animal law firm was created a couple of years ago (K & R Animal Law), who work on matters with the potential to benefit animals and provide general legal services to animal advocates. The Animal Law Institute also recently established an Australian-first Anti-Puppy Farm Legal Clinic in Victoria. 

We’ve also seen an increase in animal law courses offered in Australia, with 16 universities currently offering introductory animal law electives, and two offering masters level units. There has similarly been a rise in the number of animal law researchers and postgraduate students, and very recently the Australasian Animal Law Teachers’ and Researchers’ Association was established.   

“There are more lawyers practising animal law across the country than ever before” — Dr Meg Good

We are also starting to see the outcomes of the fact that numerous cohorts of law students across the country have studied animal law during their law degrees. Animal law electives have now been offered for 16 years, which means there are far more people working in law, government, politics and non-profit organisations who have an understanding of the important role the law plays in animal protection. 

As a result, there are more law students and lawyers volunteering their time, which has significant flow-on effects. It increases accountability for both government and industry to know that animal lawyers are scrutinising law reform proposals in this space and providing public comment and critique. Knowing that there are lawyers ready, willing and able to challenge and hold them to account is crucial; as we see with the Animal Law Institute’s clinic and its impacts on puppy breeder accountability.  

However, there is a problematic lack of adequate resources and funding for animal law services and initiatives in Australia. Many of Australia’s animal lawyers generously volunteer their time. This makes growth and consistency difficult to maintain, as most animal lawyers already have full time jobs in other areas. There are only a handful of paid animal law positions, and these are rarely available. This is something that will need to change if we want all of the developments we’ve witnessed over the past decade to continue and expand over the years to come. 

Despite this challenge, I am confident that in the future we can expect more job creation, more organisational diversity, and a mainstreaming of animal law as an established area of legal practice. Akin to a degree to the more advanced animal law landscape in the US.