Organizers
Birgitta Wahlberg is a researcher and teacher in public law at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. Her field of expertise is animal law. She has published the first animal law textbook in Finland and several articles about different issues concerning animals in legal contexts. She has founded the Global Journal of Animal Law and is the co-founder and chairperson of the Finnish Animal Rights Lawyers Society.
Pamela Frasch is Professor of Law and Associate Dean of the Animal Law Program at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon USA. Previously, Pamela served as general counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), a national non-profit animal protection law organization that seeks to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. In 1996, she created the ALDF Criminal Justice Program, which has since assisted law enforcement and animal advocates in investigating and prosecuting thousands of animal abuse and neglect cases nationwide. In addition to her duties with CALS, Pamela is co-author of the premier American legal casebook in the field, Animal Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press, 6 th edition) used in most animal law courses being taught in the United States. She is also co-author of Animal Law in a Nutshell (Thomson West, 2 nd Edition, 2016). She has taught survey and advanced courses in animal law at Lewis & Clark Law School since 1998.
Speakers
Dr. Peter J. Li is associate professor at University of Houston-Downtown. He teaches East Asian Politics, Politics and Animal Rights, and Contemporary China. His research focuses on China’s animal laws and politics at a time of great economic transformation. Dr. Li has published on China’s wildlife protection law, wildlife trade, dog meat trade and the environmental, animal welfare and public health impact of China’s animal agriculture. He also writes for the media on animal protection issues and East Asian security. Dr. Li has worked for the last 12 years as consultant for Humane Society International (HSI) on issues and collaborative programs with China. His publications include: “Enforcing Wildlife Protection in China” (https://works.bepress.com/peter-li/1/), “Explaining China’s Wildlife Crisis” (https://works.bepress.com/peter-li/17/) and “China’s tug-of-war over rhino and tiger protection” (https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2173219/chinas-tug-war-over-tiger-and-rhino-protection). Dr. Li’s book Animal Welfare in China: Culture, Politics and Development (University of Sidney Press) is forthcoming.
Sacha Lucassen is the chairman and founder of the Danish organisation Center for Dyrs Forsvar (Center for Animal Defence), a knowledge center that gathers expertise for improving the status of all animals. She also works as an Animal Law Consultant for Danish Universities on a variety of topics related to animals. Sacha is a qualified lawyer from Denmark and holds a specialized Master’s Degree in Animal Law and Society from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She has published several articles and book chapters on a variety of animal law topics, and has spoken on these topics at national and international conferences. She is also the organizer and lecturer of the first short program in Animal Law in Europe and first Animal Law course in Denmark, which takes place every summer for three weeks at Aarhus University. In the past she has worked as a Scientific Assistant at the Section of Animal Welfare and Disease Control at Copenhagen University. For several years she worked for the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food in charge of the implementation and enforcement of the protection of animals during transport.
Moa Näsström holds a PhD degree from the University of Leeds, and her thesis centred on Farm Animal Welfare Legislation in the EU. She also holds a Master of Laws in European Socio-Economic Law from the same university. She has previously worked as a Senior Lecturer in Law at Örebro University and taught at Stockholm University as well as the University of Leeds. Moa’s main research interest is in Food Law and especially the legislation applicable to farm animals.
Marius Gulbranson Nordby is an editor for law books at “Fagbokforlaget” publishing house. He has a master’s degree in law from the University of Oslo and a L.L.M in transnational law from King’s College London. He teaches environmental law at the University of Oslo, and is the leader of the International Commission of Jurists working group on environmental law in Norway. He has given numerous talks on topics such as the Norwegian climate lawsuit and environmental ethics and his work is often published in Norwegian newspapers.
Dr. Stephanie Rupprecht, born 1977, studied law from 1997 to 2003 in Marburg (Germany), Aberdeen (UK) and Cologne (Germany); in 2003 she took her first state exam, followed by a legal clerkship at the Higher Regional Court Bremen from 2003 – 2005, and her second state exam in 2005. From 2006 – 2008, she worked as a research assistant at the department for Civil Law and Civil Procedure at Osnabrück University. Since 2009, she has been a member of the annual Equine Lawyers Society conference and in 2010 took a specialised lawyer degree in Agricultural Law. From 2010 – 2013, Stephanie was research assistant at the department of Public Law, European Law, Public International Law and Comparative Law at the European Studies Institute at Osnabrück University. Her 2013 dissertation was on foreclosure on private retirement provisions and state pensions. Since 2013 she has worked as senior executive at the examination office at Osnabrück University, in addition to being an examiner for Public Law and Civil Law in the first state legal exam. Stephanie lives in the northwest of Germany with her two sons, a cat, some hens and horses.
Steven M. Wise is president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, which he founded in 1996 after working for over two decades as an animal protection attorney. Steve holds a J.D. from Boston University Law School, teaches and guest-lectures at law schools across the US and around the world, and is the author of four books, including Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals and Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery.