What can lawyers do for animals? Education in and practice of animal law in Scotland - event report

Scotland’s law schools are failing to educate its students about animal liberation: one of the de- fining social justice movements of our time.1In Scotland, animals and their defenders are left in dire need of legal expertise. This is because a lack of education in animal law has led to a dearth in legal research and practice of animal law in Scotland. It doesn’t have to be this way. In March 2019 the UK’s first animal protection law firm, Advocates for Animals, opened its doors in London.2In the United States, animal law is taught at law schools country-wide. Lewis & Clark law school in Portland, Oregon, hosts the world’s first and only LLM programme in animal law.3So, why is it that Scotland has fallen so far behind and what can be done to change this? In order to begin to tackle these questions, a panel discussion and workshop were held at the University of Strathclyde on 29 April 2019.4This event was co-hosted by the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance (SCELG) and the UK Centre for Animal Law (A-LAW).