Nationally recognized animal rights activist and attorney Steven Wise will discuss the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP)—"the only civil rights organization in the country working to achieve actual legal rights for members of species other than our own"—at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in Chase Community Center on the Vermont Law School campus. The event is open to the public and press.
Wise's talk is sponsored by VLS Social Justice Mission Scholars and the Animal Law Society with support from the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
"In addition to championing the concept that all people have a right to be treated equally under the law, the Social Justice Mission Scholars identified another focus area—defending the dignity and justice of all animals," said Mission Scholar William Lowrey '17. "We felt that Mr. Wise's 30-year legal battle for formal, legal recognition of animals, now driven through the Nonhuman Rights Project, was a manifestation of that value with significance and relevance to law students."
"Our hope is that people attending the presentation will leave with a better understanding of the current position of animals in our legal system, and the inherent consequences and a greater appreciation of the ways in which the law can impact, for better or for worse, the nonhuman animals that share this world with us," Lowrey said.
The NhRP president's work has drawn national attention, including coverage by The New York Times: "Mr. Wise's group does not try to hide its goal of using the suits as test cases to promote a novel legal theory that some animals—among them great apes, dolphins and elephants—share enough human traits to be deemed persons under the law and thus should not be held in captivity."
Wise, who has practiced animal protection law for 30 years, teaches Animal Rights Jurisprudence during Summer Session at VLS. He earned a juris doctor (JD) from Boston University Law School and a bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary.
After the talk at VLS, Wise will be available to sign his book, "Unlocking the Cage" (Basic Books, 2002), the subject of a documentary slated to air on HBO and the BBC sometime this year. For more information about Wise and the Nonhuman Rights Project, visit nonhumanrights.org. For more information about the VLS event, email WilliamLowrey@vermontlaw.edu.
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Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation's largest and deepest environmental law program. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service; three Master's Degrees—Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Master of Energy Regulation and Law, and Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy; and four post-JD degrees —LLM in American Legal Studies (for foreign-trained lawyers), LLM in Energy Law, LLM in Environmental Law, and LLM in Food and Agriculture Law. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Energy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, and Center for Applied Human Rights. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.