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World academics to debate animal law at Oxford

20th April 2018

Top academics from around the world will debate animal ethics and the role of law in creating positive change for animals at a Summer School at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, from 22-25 July, 2018.

Legal scholars, attorneys, and animal ethicists will be among academics from more than 20 countries, including the US, India, Croatia, China, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain, Austria, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, and Italy.

The provisional programme with more than sixty presentations is now available online: https://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/Programme-2018.pdf.

The particular focus of the Summer School is on how law can create positive change for animals, including the motivations and strategies for achieving legal reform and issues involving the administration, enforcement, and effectiveness of existing legislation. 

The Summer School is being organised by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics in partnership with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. Pillsbury is a leading international law firm with 700+ lawyers located around the world.

Speakers include:

  • Steve Wise, Animals as legal persons (Nonhuman Rights Project);
  • Professor Teresa Giménez-Candela and Nuria Menéndez de Llano, The changing legal paradigm for animals in Spain: From things to sentient beings (Autonomous University of Barcelona and University of Oviedo);
  • Professor Justin Marceau, Against carceral animal law (University of Denver);
  • Carter Dillard, Enforcing cruelty standards through unfair competition law (Animal Legal Defense Fund);
  • Professor David Favre, From Ethics into Law (Michigan State University College of Law);
  • Dr Randall Lockwood, Bringing animal cruelty investigation into mainstream law-enforcement in the United States (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals);
  • Professor Kathy Hessler, Animal custody: Alaska and Illinois and beyond (Lewis and Clark Law School);
  • Professor James E. Helmer, Political not metaphysical? Animal rights without animal agency? (Xavier University, Cincinnati);
  • Professor Angela Fernandez, A quasi-property/quasi-personhood status for nonhuman animals (University of Toronto), and
  • Dr Letícia Albuquerque and Gabrielle Tabares Fagundez, Genetic engineering and animal rights in Brazil: The legal terrain and the ethical underpinnings (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil).

Information about the programme and registration is available at https://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/2017/09/call-papers-summer-school-2018/ , or email Clair Linzey at depdirector@oxfordanimalethics.com

Notes to editors

  • The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics is an independent centre, founded in 2006. Its Director, Professor Andrew Linzey is a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford. The Centre has more than 100 Fellows drawn from a variety of academic disciplines from throughout the world. See oxfordanimalethics.com