{"id":189670,"date":"2022-08-29T11:48:16","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=189670"},"modified":"2022-08-29T11:48:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:48:16","slug":"animal-legal-defense-fund-grant-aids-animal-law-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/08\/animal-legal-defense-fund-grant-aids-animal-law-clinic\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Legal Defense Fund Grant Aids Animal Law Clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"

A grant from the Animal Legal Defense Fund<\/a> will support the groundbreaking courtroom animal advocate program of the Animal Law Clinic<\/a> at the UConn School of Law.<\/p>\n

The grant will create new scholarship and trainings relating to courtroom animal advocate programs and expand efforts to establish similar programs in other states. \u00a0It will also support research and programming, including development of an animal care education program for offenders prosecuted in less serious cases of animal cruelty, and advocacy guides to serve as a resource for legal advocates.<\/p>\n

Associate Dean Jessica Rubin founded the Animal Law Clinic in 2018 to train lawyers and law students to serve as advocates for justice in animal abuse cases under Connecticut’s pioneering Desmond’s Law. The clinic has also helped to establish a similar courtroom animal advocate program in Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Animal Legal Defense Fund\u2019s generous grant will allow our clinic to continue helping the courts adjudicate cases of animal cruelty and will enhance our efforts to address the underlying causes of animal abuse with education and training,\u201d Rubin said. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful and proud to work with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which is on the forefront of efforts to promote animal law education programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clinic\u2019s teaching fellow, Tara Cooley, added, \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to collaborate with the Animal Legal Defense Fund to expand our efforts. It\u2019s an impactful partnership that combines the organization\u2019s vast criminal justice network with UConn\u2019s innovative work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnimal victims need representation in the criminal justice system, and courtroom animal advocate programs uniquely position legal advocates to speak specifically to the interests of the animals,\u201d said Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. \u201cAnimal victims are unique, as they can\u2019t testify to their treatment and are regularly living evidence, which many courts are not experienced in handling. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is thrilled to formalize this partnership with UConn School of Law, which has been at the forefront of implementing this important program.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Aug. 1, 2022, the Animal Law Clinic had handled 93 animal cruelty cases in which dogs, cats, cows, rabbits and other animals were victims of maltreatment. \u00a0Acting as advocates for justice under the direction of Rubin and Cooley, the clinic’s students have presented courts with information about cruelty cases and relevant law and made recommendations on outcomes.<\/p>\n

The student advocates’ work has extended to reviewing police reports, body camera footage, veterinary records and applications for diversionary programs. They have argued in court and participated in pre-trial conferences and plea negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pioneering work of Dean Rubin and the Animal Law Clinic has provided a new way of approaching cases of animal abuse in our criminal justice system. It has also provided beneficial experiential opportunities for our students. We are deeply grateful for the assistance of the Animal Legal Defense Fund in continuing and expanding this important work,\u201d Dean Eboni S. Nelson said.<\/p>\n

The Animal Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1979 to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The grant is the organization\u2019s first to the clinic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The grant will support new scholarship and trainings relating to courtroom animal advocate programs and expand efforts to establish similar programs in other states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":189674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1857],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1856],"class_list":["post-189670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 02:52:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189670"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189679,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189670\/revisions\/189679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/189674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189670"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=189670"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=189670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}