Attesting to this fact, on August 11, 2007, the Committee received the TIPS’ Women Involvement Award for excellence in increasing the involvement and retention of women in the Section. This is the Committee’s third consecutive award – having received the TIPS’ Most Innovative Committee Award in August 2005 and again in August 2006. Of course, as all awards, the source of these accolades is rooted in the work of the entire membership.

One of my goals is to add to the Committee’s legacy the moniker of TIPS "ambassador" as it intersects with all aspects of the legal profession and the general community. Indeed, the Committee has partnered, or will soon partner, in the exchange of ideas with at least one quarter of the other 33 TIPS General Committees, several TIPS Standing Committees, at least eight ABA Sections, and numerous outside professional organizations.

Such alliances commenced on December 8, 2005, when the ABA’s Taxation Section’s Exempt Organization Committee agreed to co-sponsor the Committee’s first teleconference entitled "The New Stewardship: Nonprofits Are Under Scrutiny and Brace for Reform." More recently, on April 5, 2007, the Committee teamed up with the ABA’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section and the New York City Bar Association’s Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals Committee to produce the teleconference entitled "Don’t Forget the Family Pet! (Pet Trusts and other Estate Planning Devices for the Care of Companion Animals)."

The Committee also works with several TIPS communications committees. Since 2004, the Committee has been a regular contributor to the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal’s annual survey of recent developments. In 2005, TortSource devoted an issue to the practice of animal law. Furthermore, the TIPS Publications Committee has approved the Committee’s first book planned for publication for Spring 2008.

The Committee has also had an active role in drafting national legislation. The ABA House of Delegates,urged by the Committee, supported a resolution that eventually resulted in the passage of the Federal Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS Act) signed by President George Bush on October 6, 2006. This legislation requires state and local emergency preparedness authorities to include provisions for household pets and service animals in their evacuation plans in order to qualify for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Significantly, Barbara Gislason has been appointed TIPS’Liaison to the NationalConference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in connection with the drafting of a Uniform Volunteer Health Practitioners Act, expanded to include the role of veterinarians as first responders. Also, Professor David Favre worked successfully with other government groups to develop model "hold period" language affectinganimal placement after a disaster.

However, the Committee’s concern for emergency evacuation preparedness is not limited to legislation. Immediately after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the Committee established the ABA–TIPS Animal Disaster Relief Network, which now includes more than 70 organizations and associations. Tribal Judge Ben Zvenia, experienced in emergency firefighting responses, made a unique contribution to this effort.

The Committee’s partnering skills have extended to its CLE programs at the Annual ABA conferences. In 2006, the Committee aligned itself with the ABA Heath Law Section and the Commission on Law and Aging for the presentation of "When ‘No Pets Allowed’ No Longer Applies: Laws Impacting Senior Citizens and their Companion and Service Animals." In 2007, the program "How to Represent Petey: Animals in Entertainment," was co-sponsored with the TIPS Media, Privacy and Defamation Law Committee and the ABA Forum Committee on Entertainment and Sports Industry.

For those of who could not attend, permit me to digress and briefly describe this successful program, which I co-chaired with Kristina Hancock. The program commenced with a 10-minute film depicting an inspiring interview with actress Tippi Hedren from her wildcat habitat, the Shambala Preserve. Award winning documentary filmmaker Susan Muska shot the footage and co-edited it with her partner Greta Olafsdottir, under the auspices of Susan Brandt, founder of the Manhattan media campaign company Rational Animal. The DVD, which may soon be posted on our webpage, captured footage of the daily activity of exotic felines and incor-porated magnificent photographs by international photographer Bill Dow.

The remainder of the program featured Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Theresa Macellaro moderating a five-star panel discussing diverse issues in the humane treatment of animals in entertainment. More particularly, Gini Barrett, a former President of American Humane Association’s ("AHA") Film and Television Division provided a historical account of the AHA oversight program; Kim Ockene, from the Washington, D.C., publicinterest law firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal, discussed legal issues in a pending federal suit against Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus alleging mistreatment of circus elephants, and Bruce Wagman a partner at San Francisco’s 400-lawyer Schiff Hardin, spoke of the recently settled case involving the abuse of chimpanzees by their Hollywood trainer.

Similarly the Committee participates in programs hosted by other TIPS general committees and outside forums. For example, Barbara Gislason was a featured speaker in the President’s Showcase program hosted by the TIPS Media, Privacy and Defamation Law Committee at the 2007 ABA Annual Meeting. She addressed "The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act: A Target for First Amendment Challenges." On September 18, 2007,Vice-Chair Joan Schaffner spoke at a conference entitled "The Relationship between Animal Abuse and Human Violence" at Keble College in Oxford, England, hosted by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

The Committee’s collaborative events are equally prominent this coming year. In its boldest alliance, the Committee has joined forces with the ABA’s Section of Science and Technology, TIPS Intellectual Property Committee and Media, Defamation and Privacy Committee, and the Duke University School of Law to assemble its first national stand alone conference, "Animal and Bioengineering - A Consideration of Law, Ethics and Science", on November 9-10, 2007, at Duke University Campus in Durham, North Carolina. This program, co-chaired by Professor William A. Reppy, David Favre, Kristina Hancock, and myself, also enlisted the financial support of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the North Carolina Association of Biomedical Research. This promises to be a ground breaking event.

Through the mentoring of TIPS Committee Administrator, Sonia Schroeder, the Committee is collaborating with the TIPS Law in Public Service Committee on its first public interest project to provide humane education instruction to students at local elementary schools. The four-lesson classes are directed at instilling kindness and compassion in our youth while engaging them in critical thinking activities that will empower them to makewell-informed decisions throughout their lives. The project will be implemented in Washington D.C., and New York City, and later expanded to other geographical regions. Committee Chair-Elect Meena Alagappan has assumed the laboring oar in this endeavor.

The Committee is making plans for its first regional conferences in a continued pattern of cooperation. "Prosecuting Reckless Owners and Muzzling Dangerous Dogs: Common Sense Solutions for Politicians and Practitioners," organized by Ledy VanKavage, Joan Schaffner, and Michelle Welch, is scheduled for Saturday, December 1, 2007, at the Manhattan campus of New York University. A broad spectrum of co-sponsorsincludes TIPS Trial Techniques Committee, Law Practice Management Committee, and Solo and Small FirmPractitioners Committee, the Animal Farm Foundation and the New York University Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. The second regional conference "Family Abuse: Linking Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, and Animal Abuse" organized by Joan Schaffner, Megan Senatori, and Michelle Welch, will be held at theWashington D.C., campus of the George Washington University Law School on Saturday, April 19, 2008. It is a joint endeavor with the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence and the ABA Center on Children and the Law

New projects with our colleagues abound. The Committee is conferring with the TIPS Appellate Advocacy Committee in an ambitious project to convene a Moot Court to consider a case involving "standing" by an ani-mal species, an issue addressed in the federal circuit courts. In this endeavor the Committee has attracted the interest of the American Association of Law Schools, the Association of Women Judges, and the ABA’s Standing Committee on Judicial Independence. The postponed teleconference "Emotional Support Animal Program Litigation and Insurance Issues" has the continued commitment of the TIPS Health and Disability Insurance Law Committee.

The Committee is also joining forces with the TIPS Admiralty and Maritime Law Committee to provide a speaker for its proposed 2008 CLE program. Moreover, the Committee is cooperating with the TIPS Worker’s Compensation and Employers’ Liability Law Committee both to organize a teleconference and cosponsor a program at that Committee’s national conference in Chicago in March 2008.

Finally, the Committee is discussing two prospective programs – one that will illustrate the application of arbitration and negotiation techniques in animal law cases with members of the TIPS Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and another relating to the availability of pet health insurance with members of the TIPS Insurance Regulation Committee. The Committee looks forward to future alliances with many others.

As the Committee celebrates its third anniversary on October 9, 2007, it is fundamentally clear that the breadth of animal law is astounding and its growing importance is remarkable. As the Committee starts an excit-ing year of many firsts – first book, first national conference, first regional conferences, first public service project, and first moot court program – I urge you to join in its successes. To paraphrase one of my colleagues, "in sharing we shine."

Very truly yours,
Gilda I. Mariani, Committee Chair - Animal Law
marianig@dany.nyc.gov