|
Originally published in Student
Lawyer magazine, March 2006 (Vol. 34, No. 7). All rights
reserved.
Hot Practice
Animal law grows in stature, offering new opportunities
ABA Resources on Animal Law
by Lisa Stansky
Humans create infinite issues for the law to grapple with. Now
the law is evolving to embrace our counterparts in the animal kingdom.
Individual aspects of animal law have been around for quite some
time. They range from complex litigation over the protection of
endangered species to simple dog-bite cases. In recent years, the
practice as a unique niche has started to gel and become more institutionalized,
providing greater opportunities for new lawyers to navigate a career
path.
One resource for aspiring animal law practitioners is the animal
law committee of the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
(TIPS). The committee, formed in 2004, is the only group in the
ABA dedicated specifically to animal law as a comprehensive practice
area.
While animal rights issues occupy a high-profile aspect of the
field, the practice branches out into many other areas. Some practitioners
handle criminal or tort claims involving injuries to animals or
injuries that are caused by them. Others deal with litigation and
regulatory work involving federal and state laws governing protected
animal species.
There are four main routes to a career in animal law: government
work, private practice, nonprofit organizations, and pro bono work
interwoven with another practice area.
Kristina Hancock has made a go of the pro bono route. As a tax
attorney with Holland & Knight’s office in Rancho Santa
Fe, Calif., Hancock has worked animal law into her practice by pursuing
pro bono projects and teaching animal law as an adjunct professor
at California Western School of Law. Her billable work at the firm,
which focuses on tax-exempt organizations, blends with her pro bono
assignments, which often involve setting up nonprofit structures
for animal rights groups.
As chair-elect of TIPS’ animal law committee, Hancock advises
students to pursue opportunities with nonprofit advocacy organizations
like the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, both of which have in-house
counsel who work on animal rights issues.
“The best jobs out there right now are the in-house jobs
with national advocacy organizations,” says Hancock, who warns
that the competition is stiff. “They can take the cream of
the crop,” she says.
Aspiring government lawyers can tailor their careers to embrace
an interest in the animal world. For example, the workaday life
of Benjamin Jesup, adviser with the Solicitor’s Office of
the U.S. Department of the Interior, is all about the Endangered
Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Jesup’s niche
of animal law is called wildlife law. His job often involves litigation
where parties are warring over whether a species should be listed
as endangered.
Besides the government, the main avenues of opportunity in wildlife
law are work for nonprofits, such as the World Wildlife Fund or
the Natural Resources Defense Council, or work for companies whose
activities affect the environment, Jesup says. Such companies need
advice and counsel as well as representation in litigation concerning
regulated species, he points out.
Sean Skaggs, vice chair of the endangered species committee of
the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, works on
the law firm side of wildlife regulation. “We do almost nothing
but endangered species and natural resources law,” says Skaggs,
a partner with San Francisco’s Ebbin Moser and Skaggs.
Skaggs represents city and county governments in their development
of regional conservation plans, large utilities on statutory and
regulatory compliance issues, and individual landowners. Much of
the work involves government permit processes, such as those required
by the Endangered Species Act, and interaction with the agencies
responsible for enforcing that law, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“If you want to harvest timber and there’s salmon
in the stream, you have to go to NOAA Fisheries” for a permit,
Skaggs explains. The field has expanded in recent years, he says,
noting the growth in the number of protected species since the Endangered
Species Act became law in 1973. Still, he adds, “it’s
a small boutique practice area.”
Adam Karp, membership coordinator of TIPS’ animal law committee,
has crafted what many aspiring animal law practitioners would consider
an ideal job—a solo practice completely devoted to the field.
The Bellingham, Wash., lawyer focuses on cases involving animal
injuries, death, custody in divorce cases, and cruelty.
Karp often represents plaintiffs whose pets have been injured
by others, including shootings by police. He also handles euthanasia
cases against animal control authorities and humane societies that
are accused of failing to take necessary steps to reunite pets and
their owners. Then there are the animal-on-animal injuries that
sometimes erupt into litigation. According to Karp, one of the most
challenging aspects of animal injury-related litigation is assessing
monetary values, including emotional distress damages for pet owners.
His advice to those who wish to work in animal law: “Get
out there. Do the CLEs. Do the volunteer pro bono programs.”
A portion of John Kerr’s private practice intersects with
animal law, but from the perspective of veterinarians. The Lexington,
Mass., lawyer and vice chair of TIPS’ animal law committee
defends veterinarians in malpractice actions and represents them
in proceedings before licensing boards.
Barbara Gislason, chair of TIPS’ animal law committee, says
a percentage of her Minneapolis solo practice involves animal law,
including disputes over animal ownership. She advises students who
want to get a foothold in the field to join her committee and offer
to write articles for the committee’s newsletter, which is
posted online for members only.
Karp agrees that networking is important in the fledgling practice
area. “Make connections,” he says. “There aren’t
that many of us.”
Lisa Stansky (
lstansky@mcglinchey.com)
is a lawyer with the New Orleans office of McGlinchey Stafford.
Are you interested in other fields of law? Read previous Hot
Practice columns online at www.abanet.org/lsd/studentlawyer.
ABA Resources on Animal Law
Section
of Environment, Energy, and Resources
Endangered Species Committee
Tort
Trial & Insurance Practice Section
Animal Law Committee
ABA Center on Children and the Law
“What
Lawyers and Judges Should Know About the Link Between Child Abuse
and Animal Cruelty”
Customize your membership
To add a section to your member profile, call 800-285-2221 or visit
www.abanet.org/join.
Return to top of page
Student
Lawyer home page |