Paula is Chairperson of the UK Centre for Animal Law (A-law). She was previous in practice as a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers. Paula has an interest in animal law and regularly lectures and writes on topics around animal law and policy; she is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Winchester where she teaches animal law and policy. She also has experience in the voluntary sector, where she worked prior to starting independent practice as a barrister.

Alan is A-law’s Legal & Policy Director. He is a barrister who specialises in competition, procurement, public/administrative and EU law. From 2000–2001 he worked at the Law Commission, auditing the compatibility of legislation with the ECHR. He advises campaign organisations on Parliamentary procedure and the legal aspects of their lobbying strategies.

Judith-Anne is now retired after a career: (1) as an academic lawyer; (2) in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (who draft primary legislation and advise the government on parliamentary procedure); and (3) in the Government Legal Service, in a range of government departments (Energy, Trade and Industry, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Transport). She is a specialist in public and administrative law, and in land law. Judith-Anne is also special adviser to the Save Me Trust on Whitehall matters.

Frances Allen is a barrister who specialises in public law at Goldsmith Chambers. She has a long-standing interest in animal rights and studied Zoology at University. On gaining tenancy in 1997, Frances co-founded A-law with Jeremy Chipperfield. She is currently on A-law’s Senior Policy Team and is part of the Animal Rights Team at Goldsmith Chambers.

Libby is a retired animal welfare policy advisor, most recently for the campaigning charity OneKind (formerly Advocates for Animals) based in Edinburgh.  Libby has worked on policy aspects of legislation such as the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, Marine (Scotland) Act, Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (Scotland) Act 2018, Animal Welfare (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020 and Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023.  She was involved in founding the Cross-Party Group on Animal Welfare in the Scottish Parliament and acted as Secretary for several years.  Currently, she is the Secretary of the Wild Animal Welfare Committee and a Member of the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission.

Sophie is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen where she completed the LLB (Hons) and DPLP qualifications.  During her time at university Sophie studied the Animal Welfare course and completed her honours dissertation on the use of animals in scientific procedures. She is currently a second-year trainee solicitor with the WS Society in Edinburgh, on secondment to Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP and has an interest in charity law.  Sophie is passionate about improving animal welfare, and promoting a cruelty free lifestyle. Sophie and her family adopted their first rescue greyhound in 2008 and since then she has campaigned to end greyhound racing. She sits on the Scottish Steering Committee of ALAW. 

Scott Blair is a Scottish Advocate who has an interest in and experience of animal protection law. He is acknowledged as an expert in licensing law and administrative law and aims to bring that expertise into play in animal protection issues.

Alison Burns is a solicitor, speaker, actor and award-winning jazz singer. As a practicing solicitor specialising in intellectual property, she has worked in legal firms and universities in the UK and is currently the in-house solicitor within her own company. Meanwhile as an actor and jazz singer she joined Hilary Clinton, Aretha Franklin and Steve Jobs in being a recipient of the prestigious Brand Laureate Award. Alison is dedicated to improving animal protection and the recognition of non-human animals’ legal rights and believes that all animals deserve to live a life worth living free from cages, exploitation and cruelty.

Mike Radford is a Reader in Law at the University of Aberdeen. He has taught and lectured on animal law widely, in addition to working extensively on the development of animal welfare law and policy with politicians, officials, veterinarians, NGOs, and other interested parties. Mike is presently a trustee of Dogs Trust, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, and OneKind; a member of the All Party Group on Animal Welfare; and a visiting lecturer at both Edinburgh and Glasgow Vet Schools. He was a founder member of both A-law and the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association. Mike was appointed OBE in 2008 for services to animal welfare law.

Natalie holds a degree in English from the University of Birmingham and completed the GDL with Distinction in 2018. Natalie has a long-standing interest in animal law, particularly enforcement and the accountability of public authorities and private bodies responsible for farmed animal welfare. She works full-time for an animal welfare charity.

Pending…

Randi is a US-qualified lawyer and is in the process of requalifying in the UK. She spent several years practicing in intellectual property and public law in America. Her recent practice has focused on various aspects of English companion animal law, primarily comparative analyses of UK-USA breed specific legislation, agricultural protection laws, and puppy mills. A main interest is in connecting modern animal legal advocacy with intersectional socio-political awareness and support. Randi is a trustee of The Animal Advocacy Project.

Randi is a US-qualified lawyer and is in the process of requalifying in the UK. She spent several years practicing in intellectual property and public law in America. Her recent practice has focused on various aspects of English companion animal law, primarily comparative analyses of UK-USA breed specific legislation, agricultural protection laws, and puppy mills. A main interest is in connecting modern animal legal advocacy with intersectional socio-political awareness and support. Randi is a trustee of The Animal Advocacy Project and also runs the A-law blog.

Pending…

Blanche is a dual-qualified lawyer (UK & New York) with a background working in-house for various technology companies. Her experience has encompassed a range of topics including commercial contracts, marketing/advertising, privacy, ecommerce & consumer law, company secretarial, competition and disputes and she particularly enjoys supporting corporate ESG programs. Blanche has a long-standing interest in animal protection and volunteers with A-Law on various projects.

I am a newly qualified solicitor, working in-house primarily doing commercial work for a tech company. I hold a LLB (Hons) degree, I am CILEx graduate and have recently completed an LLM LPC with BPP University. Whilst my day-to-day job focuses on non-contentious commercial work, I am very passionate about animal welfare and so decided to help with A-LAW. Outside of work, my life mainly resolves around my two rescue dogs, Hannah and Reggie, who very much like to keep me on my toes! 

Simon is an Associate Tenant of Doughty Street Chambers. He is employed as the Migration Lawyer for the Open Society Justice Initiative, where he develops, implements and manages legal strategies and projects to promote the rights of international migrants worldwide. Before taking up his current post in October 2011, Simon was a tenant of Doughty Street Chambers where he acted for many civil society organisations, including Amnesty International, the AIRE Centre, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Refugee Legal Centre, Child Poverty Action Group and BUAV.

Jeremy is Co-founder of A-law. He is a barrister and Assistant Coroner in West London and in Oxford. Jeremy’s civil liberties experience includes defending the first criminal prosecution of the new offences (re animal research organisations) under s 145/6 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and various proceedings relating to the activities of activists around the country; civil actions against the police and defending High Court actions and Committal applications brought by claimants including Monsanto, Huntingdon Life Sciences, John Lewis and Circus King.

Erin is a Researcher in international human rights law, specialising in the application of the core international human rights treaties and ECtHR caselaw. Her work advocates utilising the international treaty framework to generate effective systemic and policy change at the national level in both member and non-member States. She is particularly interested in indigenous rights and self-determination, prisoners’ rights, refugee law, environmental justice and animal law. She has conducted research for the Queensland Human Rights Commission in Australia ahead of the introduction of the State’s first Human Rights Act this year; Geoffrey Robertson QC at Doughty Street Chambers; and the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland.   

Following an undergraduate degree in French and English & American Literature, Laura worked in international relocation before running her own business for several years. However, she has always had a keen interest in animal welfare and decided to pursue a career in law to learn how changes to legislation can be influenced in order to afford animals greater protection. Having completed the GDL and LPC LLM, Laura is now a second-year trainee solicitor and enjoys putting her legal research skills to the test by volunteering for A-LAW. Laura is particularly interested in how strategic litigation is used to highlight specific issues concerning animal welfare and the need for reform.