Lawyers
Those who practise, research and teach law can help animals in many ways. Read on to find out how you can use your legal experience and expertise to benefit animals.
Animals need legal experts! Find out how…
you can get involved in A-Law’s work and put your legal skills to work for animals.
Pro Bono & voluntary work
We are seeking legal professionals who wish to be part of a growing community of lawyers dedicated to improving the protection of animals through the law.
Getting involved in the process of law reform, for example, by responding to governmental consultations, lawyers can help draft legislation and ensure that animal protection legislation is interpreted and applied with animal protection in mind. Our policy team and working groups help deliver impartial, objective advice to NGOs. We help find legal strategies to achieve animal welfare obejctives. We provide legal expertise to inform the policy making process.
Whatever your area of practice, you can use your legal skills to help animals. The work that we do would not be possible without our dedicated team of volunteers who also help deliver A-Law’s core services. IT, administrative, marketing, financial and all other kinds of non-legal skills are also needed.
Download our Volunteer Form here.
Get involved with our events & training
Animals cannot speak for themselves. They rely upon animal advocates to ensure the law is applied correctly and fairly on their behalf.
A-Law runs seminars and other training events so that those who have taken on this responsibility are provided with the right support to undertake this important work.
We also help organise legal speakers for university groups and are actively seeking speakers in a range of legal disciplines to help us educate the next generation. Please contact us if you are interested in speaking at a future event.
You can also join our events to expand your knowledge and network with other interested professionals, scientists, vets, academics and others who all contribute to strengthen existing animal protection law.
As a member, you can also take part in our online Legal Skills Lab sessions run by our Animal Lawyers Network. These take place monthly and are free for members.
Help to shape the debate
Lawyers can contribute to the debate about animal protection law and ethics and use their legal skills to ensure that the law works for animals, that it is fair and just and properly enforced.
Lawyers are often well placed to contribute to discussions about the philosophies on which animal protection laws are based. Lawyers should understand the philosophy and jurisprudence behind animal welfare law and be ready to defend the interests of animals when the law is simply unjust or not properly enforced.
You can get involved by debating or writing about animal law and we welcome submissions to our Journal of Animal Law and shorter articles for our news site.
Lawyers for Animal Welfare
The UK Centre of Animal Law (A-LAW) was originally launched as ‘Lawyers for Animal Welfare’ to provide a forum for lawyers who wanted to improve animal protection by volunteering their legal skills and we continue to act as a hub for lawyers who are interested in using law to advance animal wellbeing.
We run seminars and courses to help lawyers upskill in animal welfare law and enforcement. Read more about our Animal Lawyers Network, which runs our Legal Skills Lab and networking events.
We also offer information and support to lawyers who want to make their legal practice more animal friendly, from hospitality to Corporate Social Responsibility policies and horse hair free wigs. Find resources for Lawyers for Animal Welfare.
Help us to fundraise
We are an extremely active charity, and thanks to our dedicated volunteers, we can operate on a modest budget. However, funds are needed to help us provide a grater level of support to animal welfare organisations.
We need your support to help raise funds to coordinate these efforts and ensure that animal interests are represented at the highest level. Please consider donating or get in touch if your are interested in finding out more.
Become an A-LAW Member
Membership is vitally important to our work and also carries with it a range of benefits including:
Subscription to The UK Journal of Animal Law | Free or reduced price tickets for A-Law events | An opportunity to attend our free monthly Legal Skills Lab sessions and network at our in-person events |
You will also be part of a growing community concerned with improving legal protection for animals.
Full membership costs just £35 per year. Join us today.