Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Animal Law and Policy Institute trains tomorrow’s animal advocacy leaders to advance animals’ legal status through education, scholarship, policy development, community engagement, and litigation. Engaging with advocacy organizations, communities, journalists, and policymakers, the Institute serves as a resource hub for animal law and policy issues.
The Animal Law and Policy Institute is dedicated to supporting aspiring animal advocates through rigorous coursework, rewarding mentorships, as well as real-world trainings and experiences. We collaborate closely with the school’s other leading programs—including environmental law and policy, agriculture and food, and restorative justice—recognizing the interconnections between justice movements, animals, humans, and the environment.
Animal law and policy is a rapidly expanding field with an increasing number of students and employers recognizing and focusing on the interconnection between human, environmental, and animal well-being. Law and graduate students at VLGS benefit from the school’s decades-long history as a pioneer in animal law, its distinguished faculty, robust and active network of alumni in leadership positions, and collaborative programs.
VLGS offers a variety of options for students and advocates interested in taking courses or earning degrees. JD students may choose from a number of specialized courses and clinical opportunities, including the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic to earn a Concentration in Animal Law residentially or through the animal law track online.
Earning this concentration provides students with the skills and training needed to practice animal protection law, lead animal advocacy organizations, and advance legal protections for animals. Law school graduates and current VLGS students may launch or further their animal advocacy careers with an Animal Law LLM residentially or online.
Building upon its long history of training leaders in environmental and animal protection, VLGS offers a Masters of Public Policy: Animal Protection degree. VLGS is one of the only schools where graduate students may take law courses, and the MPP’s innovative curriculum consists of specially tailored graduate-level courses. Earning a MPP: Animal Protection degree will benefit anyone seeking a career related to animal protection, whether in government, community organizing, advocacy organizations, regulatory agencies, academic institutions, or elsewhere.
VLGS also offers animal law and policy courses during each summer session. These two-week and weekend intensive courses are taught by leading scholars and practitioners on cutting-edge topics. They are open to anyone interested in learning more about animal advocacy and provide non-degree seekers and students from other schools an opportunity to participate in our courses and programs.
As with other VLGS courses and degrees, there are opportunities to take animal law and policy courses on campus or online; as part of a residential or online hybrid JD, master’s or joint degree; as a non-degree seeking student; and on a variety timelines. VLGS strives to provide a wide range of opportunities for students and professionals to access our courses and learn how to be effective advocates for animals.
Launch your career advancing legal protections for animals with a law or graduate degree from VLGS!
Animal law and policy is a rapidly growing field with expanding career pathways. Animal advocates include attorneys, lobbyists, legislative staff in animal advocacy organizations, consultants to nonprofits, animal care professionals, authors, professors, politicians, staff in government agencies, and others. Attorneys advocate for animal interests in civil matters—including animal custody disputes, wrongful death, pet trusts, consumer protection, and veterinary malpractice in specialized firms—as part of their practice, or by providing pro bono services. They protect animals who are victims of crimes in local, state, and federal jurisdictions. Advocates also lobby for more legal protections, expanding regulatory and enforcement efforts through specialized divisions in federal and state departments.
VLGS has long been a leader in the field of animal law and policy, and our graduates have been making a difference in the lives of animals for decades. VLGS alumni have successful animal law practices and hold positions in animal advocacy, wildlife conservation, and environmental protection organizations such as:
Resources for Job Seekers
Current Job Openings (March 2025)
Learn about legal issues that affect animal welfare, alumni fighting for animal protection, and the latest news from Vermont Law and Graduate School’s growing animal law program.
By: Daria Bednarczyk JD’25/MELP’22 and Vanessa Kranz JD’25 During the fall 2024 semester, a group of Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) students and faculty attended the Endangered Species Act: […]
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With the support of people who care about advancing legal protections for animals, the institute will continue to grow and develop resources and opportunities for students, attorneys, and professionals.
Vermont Law School provides many ways to give. As a steward of the funds, VLGS will ensure donations directed to the Animal Law & Policy Institute will be utilized exclusively for those programs.
If you would like to donate online, please use the “Animal Law Program” designation in the drop-down menu. If you would like your gift specifically earmarked for the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic, or other initiative, please note that in the comment box.
To donate by check, please note “Animal Law and Policy Institute” or “Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic” on the memo line and mail to PO Box 26, South Royalton, VT 05068.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at animallaw@vermontlaw.edu.
The Animal Law and Policy Institute was launched with the generous support of the Animal Welfare Trust, the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, the GRACE Communications Foundation, and the Greenbaum Foundation.
You may find recordings of previous events on YouTube. For other animal law and policy happenings, visit the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy Events Calendar.
Laura Ireland
Delcianna Winders
Taylor Waters
Mary Hollingsworth
Laura Fox JD/MELP’13
Laura Ireland
Reed Elizabeth Loder
Will Lowrey
Carolina Maciel
Lori Marino
Heather Rally
David Takacs
Pamela A. Vesilind JD’08
Taylor Waters
Delcianna Winders
Margaret York
Email: animallaw@vermontlaw.edu
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