Lawyers for Companion Animals

The New York Times has an article on the growth of companion animal lawyering.

[...] these lawyers say they are concerned primarily with getting the legal system to acknowledge that animals have an intrinsic value beyond mere property, because of the bond between pets and their owners.

That bond has changed over time, said Barbara J. Gislason, a Minneapolis animal lawyer, who helped found the American Bar Association committee on animal law, as pets have become more valued for their companionship than for their ability to work, on farms, for instance.

'Now people think of them as valuable in a way they never did before,' she said.

Animal lawyers argue that the law should reflect this change, especially in cases of negligence.

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American Bar Association's Animal Law Committee

Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF)

Posted by Toni Urquhart