Student Convention – 2025

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 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.