Animal Legal Defense Fund

Criminal justice programthe criminal justice program is staffed by attorneys and other experts in animal cruelty cases. These professionals provide free legal assistance to prosecutors, law enforcement, judges, veterinarians, mental health professionals, social workers, and courtroom advocates handling animal cruelty cases, including legal research, professional trainings, grant funding to help cover the costs of caring for seized animals, necessary forensic work, and securing funding and expert witnesses including veterinarians, animal behaviorists, and experts on organized animal fighting and animal hoarding. Additionally, the program works with state legislators to strengthen criminal animal protection laws and produces model animal protection laws and annual rankings reports on each state's animal protection laws.

Legislative affairs programthe legislative affairs program works at the local, state, and federal levels to advance legislation and regulations to protect the lives and promote the interests of animals and to oppose legislation and regulations that would be harmful to their welfare and interests. The program works with the animal legal defense fund's other departments to develop grassroots campaigns to support these initiatives and works cross-programmatically to identify opportunities to expand legal protections for animals addressing strategic legal issues in the areas of civil and criminal law.

Animal law programthe animal legal defense fund's animal law program works closely with law students and law professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law. Working to expand animal law into the curriculum of every law school in the country, the animal law program collaborates with students, faculty, and school administrations to facilitate the development of animal law courses and assists students in forming animal legal defense fund student chapters. As part of the animal legal defense fund's animal law program, the organization makes grants available to various organizations, legal institutions, individuals, and animal legal defense fund student chapters at law schools across the country to support the efforts to inform, educate, and take action for animal protection laws. The animal legal defense fund grants are critical to encouraging the next generation of animal lawyers.pro bono programthe animal legal defense fund's pro bono program is the nation's largest legal pro bono network for animal protection. The program partners with attorneys and pro bono coordinators across the u.s. To expand the practice of animal law. Collectively, legal professionals donate thousands of hours to the animal legal defense fund's cases annually. The donated value of services for 7/1/2023 to 6/30/2024, included in the total expenses of the pro bono program, was $3,359,332.70. The program also works to increase the understanding of animal law in the legal community by educating professionals at law firms and bar association events and keeping volunteers engaged and up to date on the latest developments in the field.