Animal Legal and Policy Studies Summit Rapporteur's Report
In May 2019, the Brooks Institute convened and hosted the first “Animal Legal and Policy Studies Summit.” The three-day event brought together scholars and academics from a wide array of disciplines to Northern California to meet, describe their own research and backgrounds, and exchange ideas about the future of what are commonly referred to as the fields of “Animal Law” and “Animal Studies.” One driving motivator for assembling these academic leaders was to foster discussion that would identify key questions or areas of inquiry that could benefit from additional scholarly attention or data. The information generated and knowledge gained during the Summit ideally then would inform both the Brooks Institute and its Scholars Committee about where additional resources might best be applied or utilized. The Summit Rapporteur, Chris Green (Executive Director, Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program), synthesized the Summit content in his executive summary.