Our Hen House
Our Hen House
  • Home
  • Podcasts
    • Our Hen House Podcast
    • Animal Law Podcast
    • Antiracism Audio Series
    • Limited Series: Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan
  • About
    • About Our Hen House
    • Inside the Coop – Bios
    • Join the Flock
    • Suggest a Guest
    • Press Coverage
    • Policies
    • Contact
  • Learn More
    • Videos
    • Blog
      • Book Reviews
    • Hen Press
    • Why Animal Rights?
      • Animal Testing and Research
      • Clothing
      • Companion Animals
      • Dairy
      • Eggs
      • Entertainment
      • Fishes
      • Meat
      • Veganism
      • Wildlife
      • What to do?
  • Donate
Blog

Listen Up, Lawyers: The National Lawyers Guild has an Animal Rights Committee

by Mariann Sullivan September 13, 2013
written by Mariann Sullivan

logoWhen lawyers ask me how to get started in animal rights, one of things I tell them is to consider joining their local or state bar association and either joining, or founding, an animal law committee. Or, they can join the American Bar Association’s TIPS Animal Law Committee, which I used to chair. My local bar association, the New York City Bar Association, was the first in the country to have an Animal Law Committee, and when I joined it — years ago — it was really the start of my animal advocacy. I cared about what was happening to animals before that, but getting together with like-minded lawyers was a huge push for me to actually try to do something about what was happening to animals. Eventually, I also became chair of that committee, and it was a terrific experience.
But there’s no question that the standard bar association isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. They tend to be pretty mainstream organizations, filled with mainstream lawyers, talking about mainstream legal issues. I myself often feel a bit out of place at bar associations — as if I’m pretending to be a bit more like everyone else than I really am (for better or worse). In particular, people on the left end of the political spectrum may feel a bit stifled in organizations that can often be dominated by corporate types. That’s one reason I’m so glad to hear that the National Lawyers Guild, a national association of lawyers who come at social justice and anti-oppression issues from the point of view “that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests” has formed an Animal Rights Activism Committee that is working “to end oppression and exploitation of non-human animals.”

Protest

Animal Rights Activists Need Lawyers on Their SIde


What makes this doubly exciting to me is that, back in the day, there seemed to be a surprising lack of interest  from the American left for animal rights issues, a state of affairs that perplexed animal rights activists for years. Just one example — the American Civil Liberties Union has been held partially responsible for the passage of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act for its failure to oppose, in fact, it’s tacit approval of the language of the bill when it was first proposed. Apparently, though, a shift has occurred, and the folks at traditionally progressive organizations are more and more interested in what’s happening to animals, or at least in what’s happening to the people who advocate for them. We’ve even been told that the ACLU itself has taken the position that AETA should be declared unconstitutional. That’s great news.
And even greater news is the proactive stance that the National Lawyers Guild Committee has been taking toward animal issues. Since its inception, it has reportedly:

Organized a workshop for the 2013 NLG Convention, “Defending Terrorism,” which will explore connections between different communities targeted as “terrorists”;
Submitted a public comment to the National Institutes of Health urging it to follow through on plans to retire chimpanzees used in research;
Compiled a brief bank of filings in animal law cases and defense work on behalf of animal rights activists;
Made the NLG Southern Region regional conference a completely vegetarian event;
Presented on “Animal Enterprise Terrorism and the Criminalization of a Movement” at a Climate Change Justice conference;
Published an op-ed about ag-gag legislation on CommonDreams.org

If you are interested in getting involved with the NLG committee, and you are in New York, you might want to check out their upcoming event on October 3. In fact, even if you’re not a lawyer, you may want to be there. Speaking will be Lauren Gazzola, one of the SHAC 7, who will be discussing the repression of animal rights and environmental activists as part of the Green Scare, and Bina Ahmad (who you might remember from Episode 115 of the Our Hen House podcast), who will be discussing the connections between animal rights and broader visions of justice. If you’re not in New York, or can’t make the program, you can find out more about the committee by emailing them at animalrights [at] nlg.org.

Share 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
previous post
Thoughtful Gunny
next post
Episode 192: “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”

You may also like

Time to Make the Vegan Donuts

Two Creative Events for Animal Charities

Become a “Solutionary” for a Better World: IHE Grad Programs’ Deadlines Quickly...

Reducing Suffering Through Provocative Art

TV Tuesdays: Episode 12

Two Quick, Informative, and Delightfully Sarcastic Cartoons about Factory Farms

New Ebook from Hen Press!

Animal Stories in Film: Inherently Exploitative? Potentially Eye-Opening?

Your Support to Change the World for Animals is Now Being Doubled!...

Grants for Video Projects

Search Episodes

Subscribe to our Shows

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotifyStitcherPocketCastsAmazon Music
More
  • Apple PodcastsApple Podcasts
  • RSSRSS
  • SpotifySpotify
  • Google PodcastsGoogle Podcasts
  • Amazon MusicAmazon Music
  • StitcherStitcher
  • PocketCastsPocketCasts
  • CastBoxCastBox
  • Player.fmPlayer.fm
  • TuneInTuneIn
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotifyStitcherPocketCastsAmazon Music
More
  • RSSRSS
  • Apple PodcastsApple Podcasts
  • Google PodcastsGoogle Podcasts
  • SpotifySpotify
  • Amazon MusicAmazon Music
  • StitcherStitcher
  • CastBoxCastBox
  • Player.fmPlayer.fm
  • TuneInTuneIn
  • PocketCastsPocketCasts

Subscribe to OHH Emails

We don’t spam or share your email with others. Privacy policy.

Please Check Your Email to Confirm Your Subscription!

Instagram

Join us On Facebook

Join us On Facebook

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Donate & Triple Your Impact!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

@2021 - Our Hen House


Back To Top
Our Hen House
  • Home
  • Podcasts
    • Our Hen House Podcast
    • Animal Law Podcast
    • Antiracism Audio Series
    • Limited Series: Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan
  • About
    • About Our Hen House
    • Inside the Coop – Bios
    • Join the Flock
    • Suggest a Guest
    • Press Coverage
    • Policies
    • Contact
  • Learn More
    • Videos
    • Blog
      • Book Reviews
    • Hen Press
    • Why Animal Rights?
      • Animal Testing and Research
      • Clothing
      • Companion Animals
      • Dairy
      • Eggs
      • Entertainment
      • Fishes
      • Meat
      • Veganism
      • Wildlife
      • What to do?
  • Donate
Our Hen House
Search Podcasts
  • Home
  • Podcasts
    • Our Hen House Podcast
    • Animal Law Podcast
    • Antiracism Audio Series
    • Limited Series: Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan
  • About
    • About Our Hen House
    • Inside the Coop – Bios
    • Join the Flock
    • Suggest a Guest
    • Press Coverage
    • Policies
    • Contact
  • Learn More
    • Videos
    • Blog
      • Book Reviews
    • Hen Press
    • Why Animal Rights?
      • Animal Testing and Research
      • Clothing
      • Companion Animals
      • Dairy
      • Eggs
      • Entertainment
      • Fishes
      • Meat
      • Veganism
      • Wildlife
      • What to do?
  • Donate

Subscribe

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Music
More
  • Apple PodcastsApple Podcasts
  • RSSRSS
  • SpotifySpotify
  • Google PodcastsGoogle Podcasts
  • Amazon MusicAmazon Music
  • StitcherStitcher
  • PocketCastsPocketCasts
  • CastBoxCastBox
  • Player.fmPlayer.fm
  • TuneInTuneIn
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Music
More
  • RSSRSS
  • Apple PodcastsApple Podcasts
  • Google PodcastsGoogle Podcasts
  • SpotifySpotify
  • Amazon MusicAmazon Music
  • StitcherStitcher
  • CastBoxCastBox
  • Player.fmPlayer.fm
  • TuneInTuneIn
  • PocketCastsPocketCasts

OHH NEWSLETTER

We don’t spam or share your email with others. Privacy policy.

Please Check Your Email to Confirm Your Subscription!

 
Sign In

Keep me signed in until I sign out

Forgot your password?

Password Recovery

A new password will be emailed to you.

Have received a new password? Login here