Adjunct Teachers in Animal Law: How to Enhance Animal Law Engagement

Join us for another conversation in our Adjunct Teachers in Animal Law Series. In this session, we will be discussing how to enhance engagement with animal law, in classrooms, law schools, legislatures, courtrooms, communities, and beyond. Within the law school environment there are many opportunities to work with faculty, students, and staff across multiple discipline to help others learn about and engage with animal law. In this session, we will discuss these opportunities as well as approaches for broadening the scope and reach of animal law conversations.

Although this series is designed for adjunct teachers, all are welcome including full-time teachers, students, and others.

The panelists include:

• Conley Wouters, University of Chicago, Illinois School of Law
• Priscilla Culp Rader, Animal Legal Defense Fund
• Rebecca Cary, Humane Society of the US
• Hana Nabulsi, GW Law

• (moderator) Andrew Murphy, GW Law

Conley Wouters is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, where he teaches Animal Law, Lawyering Skills, and Contracts. He is also the faculty advisor to UIC’s student chapter of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and a co-founder of the Chicago Animal Law Student Initiative (CALSI). Conley’s current scholarship focuses on litigation strategies targeting animal cruelty at rodeos. His work has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing, the Northeastern University Law Review, and the Animal Law Review.

Before moving to legal academia, Conley practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm. Today, he maintains a pro bono practice centered on animal protection issues in the context of municipal law, and in 2023, he was a recipient of the Compassionate Counsel Award from the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Conley holds a B.A. in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Brandeis University, and a J.D. from Cornell Law School.

Priscilla Rader Culp is the senior law school programs attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. There, Priscilla develops, implements, and manages the organization’s law school initiatives, including its student chapter programmatic work, the annual Student Convention, scholarship series’, mentorship, student events, law professor assistance, and more. Priscilla is passionate about empowering law students and professionals to expand the emerging field of animal law in all spaces. As a 2016 Lewis & Clark Law School graduate, she served as co-director for her school’s student chapter, student coordinator for the Animal Law Conference, and clerked with Mercy for Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School. Priscilla was awarded the Animal Law Leadership Award and the Richard J. Peppin Scholarship for Animal Rights. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their beloved cat, Wesley, who has them both wrapped around his paw.

Rebecca Cary is a Senior Staff Attorney at The Humane Society of the United States, where she has worked since 2010 and focuses primarily on farm animal laws and their constitutional defense. She is a 2009 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, and a 2005 graduate of the University of California San Diego. She currently co-chairs the DC Bar Animal Law section, and lives in Maryland with her three rescue cats.

Hana Nabulsi graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Neuropsychology and a minor in biological studies. After working in the medical research field for a few years she pivoted her career goals to focus on her passion, animal welfare. Hana helped jumpstart a now flourishing rabbit and guinea pig adoption program at a shelter in her home city, Chicago. While it was difficult to leave that meaningful work, law school felt like the next natural progression. She is now a 3L at George Washington University Law School, a law student vice chair for the ABA Animal Law Committee, and the Co-President for the GW SALDF. Hana hopes to use her degree to help advocate for factory farmed animals.

Andrew Murphy is a third-year law student at GW Law. Andrew has worked with the Animal Welfare Project to develop legislation for the DC Counsel regarding affordable housing for people living with animals and a potential ban on the production and sale of new animal fur products. He's also gained further animal law experience through internships with the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the U.S. Coast Guard. In his free time, Andrew enjoys hiking, photography, and skiing. 

Adjunct, rather than full-time, law professors do the majority of animal law teaching in the U.S. and globally. Yet this community does not have the same access to academic resources and support as their full-time counterparts. That can make developing and maintaining animal law courses more challenging. This series is designed to remedy some of that inequity and offer support and resources to expand and improve animal law teaching. The series will focus pragmatic as well as pedagogical matters designed to help those interested in starting or continuing to teach animal law.

Host or Publisher Animal Legal Education Initiative