Animal law advocates use science to help judges, legislators, and others understand the need to protect animals.  Recently, sentience has been widely used in these legal strategies.  This session will consider the legal uses of sentience assertions and ask, what is it – what does it mean – how can it be used?  Dr. Lori Marino, a leading scientist in the field, will lead the discussion with our experienced panelists – Elizabeth Stein, Mike Radford, and Marty McKendry. They will share what this work can look like in different advocacy contexts.  They will examine the lessons we can learn from past efforts to use sentience within legal frameworks and consider how best to use it in the future.

Speakers

Elizabeth Stein

Elizabeth Stein is the NhRP’s Litigation Director. Before joining the NhRP, she was a solo practitioner with an office in New Hyde Park, NY, where she focused exclusively on legal issues pertaining to animal rights, welfare, legislation, and advocacy. Liddy holds a J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and a B.S. in German from the State University of New York at Albany where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.

Mike Radford

Mike Radford is Reader in Animal Welfare Law and UK Public Law in the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.  He introduced the first course in animal welfare law to be offered by a UK (and as far as he is aware, European) law school in 1992,  He is an internationally recognised expert in animal welfare law and has extensive experience of working with politicians, officials, NGOs, animal welfare scientists and veterinary surgeons in the development of relevant policy and legislation. He has previously served as: a trustee of Dogs Trust and the PDSA; a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons'  Animal Welfare Science, Ethics, and Law Committee; the Companion Animal Welfare Council; the Dog Advisory Council; and was a founder member of the Animal Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association. Mike is presently a member of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, chair of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) and the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) (Homepage - UFAW; Humane Slaughter Association, Improving Standards in Animal Welfare at Slaughter, in Markets and during Transport), a trustee of the UK Centre for Animal Law (formerly the Association of Lawyers for Animal Welfare and still generally referred to as ALAW) (A-LAW | UK Centre for Animal Law), a member of the Legal Advisory Group on Extreme Conformation in Dogs (Legal Advisory Group on Extreme Dog Conformation | A-LAW) and a long-time visiting lecturer at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh and the School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow. Mike was decorated by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 for services to animal welfare law.

Marty McKendry

Lori Marino (moderator)

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist who has studied animal behavior and intelligence for thirty years and was on the faculty of Emory University. She is Founder and Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and President of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Lori is internationally known for her work on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales (as well as primates and farmed animals). She has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles on comparative brain anatomy and cognition, self-awareness in nonhuman animals, human-nonhuman animal relationships, and the evolution of intelligence. Lori also has interests in bioethics and animal law and policy, and, in particular, in the intersection of science and law.