America’s top animal lawyer presents free public talk

May 04, 2007

Professor Steven Wise, described by “USA Today” as America’s best-known animal lawyer, presented a free public talk at the University of Wollongong on 3 May.

Professor Wise has been brought to Australasia by Voiceless, the fund for animals, and will present several lectures in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Voiceless, an animal protection organisation established by Brian Sherman and his daughter Ondine Sherman several years ago, aims to promote respect and compassion for animals, increase awareness of the conditions in which they live and take action to protect animals from suffering.

Two years ago Voiceless hired Australia’s first full-time animal lawyer, Katrina Sharman, and its legal department is continually expanding.

Professor Wise’s Wollongong presentation formed part of UOW’s Legal Intersections Research Centre seminar series.

He is the author of the groundbreaking book, Rattling the Cage: Towards Legal Rights for Animals, which argued the case for granting legal rights to animals. The book has been described by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall as “… the animals’ Magna Carta.”

Animal law is taught at more than 80 universities in the United States, including leading academic institutions such as Harvard, Stanford and New York University School of Law. It is becoming a rapidly-growing discipline in Australia. Professor Wise was the first person to teach an animal law course at Harvard Law School and currently teaches animal rights law at Vermont Law School.

Elizabeth Ellis of UOW’s Faculty of Law helped co-ordinate Professor Wise’s visit to Wollongong. Animal law is one of Ms Ellis’s research interests. She is also planning to introduce Animal Law as an elective subject in the LLB program at UOW in 2008.