Animal Law Program Launches at Jackman Law

On Friday, September 12, 2025, the Animal Law Program celebrated its launch at an event held at the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law.

Animal law programming already exists at the Faculty; the program’s official launch acknowledges its maturation and a growing array of opportunities for students. In addition to its core animal law course — offered annually since 2021 — the program will now add a new seminar, three tiers of fellowships for students, and practicum opportunities.

At the launch event, Angela Fernandez, Professor at Jackman Law and Director of the Animal Law Program, spoke about the growth of the program at the Faculty.

Previously, noted Fernandez, Jackman Law has hosted the Canadian Animal Law Conference in partnership with Animal Justice, as well as the North American Animal Law Conference, together with the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. Many of the program’s elements have been offered through funding from the Hadley Family Foundation.

“I’m very excited to announce that we have received a commitment for an additional half a million dollars of funding for the next three years from the Hadley Foundation and another generous donor,” said Fernandez.

The funding will also enable the program to hire a Program Coordinator, she added, which will enable Jackman Law to host even more events and opportunities for students.

In many important ways, the Faculty’s Animal Law Program has taken a critical role in educating the public on animal law matters.

Jackman Law hosts the Animal Law Research Guide at the Bora Laskin Law Library, under the leadership of Acting Chief Law Librarian Sooin Kim, as well as the Brooks Animal Law Digest — Canada Edition, which provides regular updates to the public about developments in Canadian animal law. The latter project is facilitated by Animal Law Research Associates Kira Berkeley and Krystal-Anne Roussel.

Kristen Silt, Director of the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School, directs the U.S. Animal Law Digest and has worked collaboratively with Fernandez for years. Silt spoke at the launch event about the importance of the digests.

“We bring coherence to a lot of information that would otherwise be difficult to find, organized by the categories of legislation, case law, agency action, and international stories,” she said.

Additionally, the evening included early access to the Museum of Human Predation exhibition in the Bora Laskin Law Library. Created by M.H. Tse (Postdoctoral Fellow in Animal Law) in collaboration with Rachel Wallace, Petrina Ng, Yshia Wallace, and Anne Campbell, the display, Necessary Cruelty: The Legal Technology of Domestic Predation, explores the “Zone of Necessity,” a legal artifact that carves out realms of lawlessness within the law. The exhibit will remain in the library for public viewing until November 21, 2025.

Before the evening was over, Fernandez and her colleagues had noted a long list of upcoming events to look forward to, including a Working Group on Animals in the Law and Humanities with Jeff Sebo and a Working Group on Animals in the Law and Humanities with Sarah Berger Richardson.

Berkeley said she was delighted by the success of the launch. “We were thrilled by the overwhelming interest in this event — not just in the number of attendees, but also in the media attention it received. The official Animal Law Program title now gives us an even stronger platform to expand the reach and impact of our work in this growing field,” she said.