When Bruce Wagman of Schiff Hardin told management at one of his first law jobs that he wanted to do pro bono work in the area of animal law, the firm told him that wasn't an option. So Wagman left.
Flash forward more than a decade, and animal law has become one of the fastest-growing areas of study in the U.S., with nearly 100 courses available to law school students (just nine schools offered such courses in 2000) and more high-profile litigation than ever.
Now, statistics from 2008 show that Am Law firms contributed a record number of pro bono hours to the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, two of the country's leading animal rights organizations--and those that pursue litigation most aggressively. (A third, the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, did not respond to repeated requests for comparable figures and interviews).
Click here for the full article.
I'm not so sure this is a good thing. Should we really be encouraging Fluffy and Mittens to benefit from our litigious society? Next thing you know, Fluffy and Mittens will be suing you for pain and suffering costs when you throw out the chew toy and catnip mouse.
That reminds me of President Barack Obama's appointment of Professor Cass Sunstein as director of information and regulatory affairs in the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB). Apparently, "In a 2004 book titled 'Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions,' he proposed that animals should be permitted to bring lawsuits, with lawyers acting on their behalf." But that's a story for another blog post.
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