Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Convention

Chris Green is the Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, where he earlier established the organization’s Legislative Affairs Program and was its director from 2013–2015. Chris spent the past eight years serving as the inaugural Executive Director of the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School, and he currently is a Fellow with the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. Green also is the former Chair of the American Bar Association’s TIPS Animal Law Committee. In those capacities, Chris persuaded the top three U.S. airlines to stop transporting endangered animal hunting trophies, helped defeat Ag-Gag legislation in several states, and successfully passed ABA-wide resolutions recommending that all U.S. legislative bodies outlaw the possession of dangerous wild animals and provide police officers with non-lethal animal encounter training. Chris also served on a National Academies of Sciences committee assessing the Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ use of dogs in biomedical research. Chris regularly testifies at legislative hearings on animal protection matters and he has been quoted on animal legal issues in dozens of major media outlets. Green is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Illinois, where he created the college’s first Environmental Science degree. Chris also spent several decades working in the fine arts, film, and music industries, and currently manages an Illinois farm that has remained in his family for 186 years. In 2022, Chris received the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law.

Jessica Blome is an animal, environmental, open government, and land use attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in complex litigation. As a shareholder with Greenfire Law, PC, a public interest environmental and animal law firm in Berkeley, California, Jessica represents a wide range of clients from individuals to grassroots organizations to national non-profit organizations. She successfully litigates high stakes matters that advance the status of animals, protect wildlife, or conserve the environment under state, federal, and tribal law. Recently, Jessica won a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for unlawful take of threatened Manatees in the North Indian River Lagoon in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

Prior to joining the Animal Legal Defense Fund, she founded and oversaw the litigation division at the PETA Foundation. She has handled matters arising under the Endangered Species Act, consumer protection statutes, the First Amendment, public nuisance law, the Freedom of Information Act and state public records statutes, and the Administrative Procedure Act, and likewise advised on criminal animal cruelty issues and proposed legislation.

Before transitioning to animal law on a full-time basis, Caitlin practiced complex commercial and intellectual property litigation at Milbank LLP in Los Angeles and Savitt Bruce & Willey LLP in Seattle, and handled a variety of animal law and prisoners’ rights matters on a pro bono basis. She received her law degree from the UCLA School of Law in 2008.

Caitlin lives in Seattle with her partner and their rescue mutt, Huddie. Outside of work, she spends her free time chasing live music around the Pacific Northwest and obsessing about her never-ending quest to make the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.

Jaime Olin is the Legislative Chair and Board Vice President of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, as well as partner at a litigation boutique firm in Dallas. Before that, she worked as Legal Advocacy Counsel with the ASPCA, focusing on animal welfare litigation and legislation, animal cruelty prosecution support, and equine welfare issues. She’s taught courses and given countless presentations on animal cruelty laws, the LINK, and various other animal law topics. She earned her BA in Psychology/Biology (focus on animal cognition) from New College of Florida, her MS in Animals and Public Policy from Tufts University (focus on humane education and animal-friendly legislation), and her JD from the University of Michigan, where she started and ran the school’s chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. She’s lived in Dallas since 2009. Jaime’s rescue dogs, Benny and Lucy, are admittedly somewhat pampered, but they motivate her to work hard to improve the welfare of all Texas dogs.

Conley Wouters is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, where he teaches Animal Law, Contracts, and Lawyering Skills. His current research projects focus on laws relating to the treatment of private security canines, and litigation strategies for fighting animal cruelty in rodeo. He has published scholarship on animal law pedagogy, legal storytelling, and Buddhist approaches to legal writing. Conley has presented at various conferences and workshops related to animal law and animal law pedagogy, and he is a member of the Council on Animal Legal Education at GW Law’s Animal Legal Education Initiative. He is also an online LLM Candidate at the Lewis & Clark Center for Animal Law Studies.

Before becoming a law professor, Conley practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm. Since 2023, he has worked in animal law in a pro bono capacity, and in 2025, he established Karuna Law, a solo practice dedicated to advancing animals’ legal interests. He is a recipient of the Animal Legal Defense Fund Compassionate Counsel Award.

As Law School Programs Attorney, Alyssa manages the Animal Legal Defense Fund student chapters and all duties related to helping chapters succeed. She also assists in the development and implementation of the Animal Law Program’s law school initiatives. Alyssa is a 2020 graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School. During law school, she served as a Source Checker of Animal Law Review, interned for the International Animal and Environmental Law Clinic, clerked for the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Center for Animal Law Studies, and was Pro Bono Chair of the school’s Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Chapter. As Pro Bono Chair, Alyssa served as the law student representative on the planning committee for the 27th Annual Animal Law Conference. Alyssa was also selected by professors and faculty of her law school to join its Cornelius Honor Society largely due to her involvement in the animal law program. Alyssa completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Toledo where she majored in Law & Social Thought and minored in Political Science.

As Chief People Officer with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Beth oversees human resources at the organization. Prior to joining the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Beth was a program manager for the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights where she managed a 50-person office charged with investigating and resolving federal civil rights complaints in educational settings. Beth also served as the program manager at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. Beth’s expertise includes managing equal employment opportunity and immigration matters, reasonable accommodations, and crafting policies, procedures and training. Beth began her career at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where she served as a trial attorney and senior trial attorney, litigating employment discrimination cases on behalf of individuals who experience workplace discrimination.

Payton Brianne is a legal scholar and lifelong animal advocate. After earning her J.D. from California Western School of Law and an entertainment law LL.M. from the University of Southern California, she co-founded Compassionate Canine Society, a nonprofit dedicated to rescue work, advocacy, and education. She also created Empathy for Animals, an animal-assisted education program designed to foster compassion and prevent cruelty. Now pursuing her LL.M. in animal law at Lewis & Clark, Payton envisions expanding Empathy for Animals into a national diversion program that provides “a second chance for both ends of the leash.”

• Paper: Second Chances for Both Ends of the Leash: A Humane Approach to Juvenile Rehabilitation

Amanda Houdeschell is a 3L at Michigan State University College of Law, where she serves as vice president of the SALDF chapter. During law school, she interned with Mercy for Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Amanda has been involved in grassroots animal rights activism and animal rescue for ten years and is excited to continue her commitment to animal advocacy through a legal career.

• Paper: Establishing (Non)Human Significance – The Case for Admitting Animal Cruelty Evidence in Rescue Trials

Mason Liddell is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Law School, where he co-founded his school’s SALDF chapter during his first semester there. While he was earning his degree, he interned for organizations like the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and Friends of Animals. When he was in his final semester of law school, alongside two friends from Colorado Law, he founded Animal Counsel — a new nonprofit dedicated to creatively advancing the interests of animals and the environment. Prior to attending law school, Mason graduated from William & Mary with a double major in Government and Philosophy. Outside of school and work, he spends a lot of time running, playing with his dog Riley, and playing video games with his friends.

• Paper: Stopping the Slippery Slope: What Happy the Elephant Can Gain from Estrellita the Monkey

As a Staff Attorney, Michael Swistara works to develop creative legal strategies to improve the status and lives of animals through the legal system. Michael has a particular interest in using the law to combat factory farming and build a more just food system. Michael earned his J.D. and M.P.P. from The George Washington University. At law school, Michael was a member of The George Washington University Law Review and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board. He served as Secretary of the Environmental and Energy Law Association, President of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, and Student Coordinator for the GW Law Animal Welfare Pro Bono Project. He was the 2021-22 recipient of the Samantha Animal Law Scholarship and was a 2021-22 Emerging Scholars Fellow at the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. Michael also holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from McGill University and an M.A. in Economics from Columbia University.