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Research Programs

Animal Law & Policy Program

  • A woolly monkey in a tree along a river in the Amazon Rainforest

    Animal Law & Policy Program files amicus brief concerning nonhuman animals’ legal status

    December 14, 2021

    The Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School (ALPP) and the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) have jointly filed an amicus curiae brief with the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, urging it to recognize that nonhuman animals can have legal rights.

  • Three women and two men on an outside deck holding a sign Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program

    $10 million endowment established for the Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Program

    November 10, 2021

    Harvard Law School today announced the establishment of a $10 million endowment for the Animal Law & Policy Program, thanks to a gift from the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy.

  • Caged Macaque

    ‘They’re lying to the public’

    June 4, 2021

    The Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Clinic made a startling discovery about a USDA policy while working to promote better standards of care for primates in medical research facilities.

  • polar bear on a wide surface of in the ocean

    Scientists and law professors urge Biden to pull unlawful Endangered Species Act rules

    February 12, 2021

    Group led by Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Program petitions the president to immediately rescind key policies that restrict the government’s consideration of harms from greenhouse gas emissions on protected animals.

  • United States Supreme Court in Washington DC

    Animal Law & Policy Program files amicus brief in Supreme Court challenging border wall

    March 19, 2020

    Harvard’s Animal Law & Policy Program filed its first Supreme Court brief challenging the Trump administration’s waiver of laws regarding the U.S.-Mexico border wall construction. Ashley Maiolatesi ’20 recently corresponded with Harvard Law Today about what is at stake, the specific ramifications of these waivers, and her own personal connection to the project.

  • Boanne Wassink with Charlotte the pig

    Animal Law and Policy Clinic launches at Harvard Law School

    August 5, 2019

    Harvard Law School has announced the launch of the new Animal Law and Policy Clinic, to be led by Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor Katherine Meyer and Clinical Instructor Nicole Negowetti.

  • Fifth annual Animal Law Week held at HLS

    Fifth annual Animal Law Week held at HLS

    April 3, 2019

    Animal law advocates from a variety of disciplines and perspectives come together at Harvard Law School for the fifth annual Animal Law Week.

  • Photo of building during construction

    Designed for Learning

    January 29, 2019

    Harvard Law School’s newest building opened this fall at 1607 Massachusetts Avenue. Inside, the LEED Gold certified structure continues the school’s commitment to experiential learning, with space suited for clinics and collaborative learning as well as research programs.

  • Raising the profile of animal law to match the stakes

    Raising the profile of animal law to match the stakes

    December 13, 2018

    According to Harvard Law School lecturer Jonathan Lovvorn, saving the planet and its inhabitants from climate catastrophe begins with the world’s most vulnerable population: animals.

  • Students with elephant at the PETA Foundation

    Third Annual Student Animal Law Trip to Washington D.C.

    April 13, 2018

    Last week, the Animal Law & Policy Program (ALPP) at Harvard Law School partnered with the HLS Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) to organize the third annual “Student Animal Law Trip to Washington D.C.”

  • Fourth annual Animal Law Week held at HLS

    Fourth annual Animal Law Week held at HLS

    March 12, 2018

    Animal law advocates from a variety of disciplines and perspectives came together at Harvard Law School  for the fourth annual Animal Law Week, an event co-hosted by the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program and Harvard Law School's Student Animal Legal Defense Fund . 

  • Jonathan Lovvorn appointed policy director of the HLS Animal Law and Policy Program

    Jonathan Lovvorn appointed policy director of the HLS Animal Law and Policy Program

    September 15, 2017

    On Sept. 5, Harvard Law School Lecturer Jonathan Lovvorn was named the first policy director for the school's Animal Law & Policy Program. Lovvorn, who previously taught Wildlife Law in both the Fall 2015 and Fall 2016 terms, will continue as a lecturer, teaching a new course this fall on Farmed Animal Law & Policy.

  • Animal Law Week links animal rights, environmentalism and activism

    March 22, 2017

    The intersection of climate change, animal testing, and corporate strategic partnerships were among the issues explored during the third annual Animal Law Week, a series of events hosted at Harvard Law School from Feb. 27-March 3 by HLS’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) and the Harvard Animal Law and Policy Program.

  • Close up of chickens in cages

    Animal-welfare advocate finds partner in growing Law School program

    November 2, 2016

    With his recent gift of $1 million and a subsequent matching gift of $500,000 to support individual donations of up to $50,000 through December, Charles Thomas is hoping to make farm animals central to animal cruelty prevention.

  • Focusing on law and the treatment of animals

    March 10, 2016

    Harvard Magazine recently featured a story on the evolution of animal law in the United States, highlighting the new HLS Animal Law & Policy Program and faculty director Kristen Stilt. In February, to commemorate Animal Law Week, Harvard Law School hosted a series of animal law lunchtime talks, with topics ranging from Islamic law, direct democracy, and environmental law.