Spotlight: Elizabeth Nisbet

Elizabeth Nisbet is a 2024 recipient of the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Advancement in Animal Law Scholarship.

This award honors students who demonstrate a commitment to the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s mission “to advance the interests and protect the lives of animals through the legal system.” Recipients are actively involved in their Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Chapter while in law school and show promise in the field after graduation.

Elizabeth (Libby) is entering her third year of law school at Georgia State University College of Law, where she currently serves as the president of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter. She is also an associate editor for the Georgia State Law Review, where her student note regarding issues surrounding biogas subsidies and CAFOs was selected for publication.

What Animal Legal Defense Fund student chapter activities are you proudest of and why?
I am most proud of our speaker series, which we call “lunch and learns,” where we serve a vegan lunch and have various speakers present an animal-law related topic. This year, we hosted the Director of Conservation for the Georgia Aquarium as he discussed ocean HOPE spots, the Georgia Special Prosecutor of Animal Crimes as she discussed her work on animal protection cases, and our Constitutional Law Professors who provided analysis on the NPPC v. Ross case.The purpose of these events is to expose law students to a wide variety of animal law issues. Animal law touches so many different areas of the law, and there is something for everyone to be interested in. The speaker series is intended to demonstrate that range with the hopes of garnering student interest from a wide variety of areas.

Any other noteworthy experience?
The ALDF chapter, in conjunction with the Environmental Law Society, hosted a forest clean up volunteer event with the group “Trees Atlanta.” In this project, volunteers removed invasive plant species in our local park to create a healthier forest for native plants and wildlife. The Trees Atlanta group was extremely educational and taught us about invasive plants that are toxic to local wildlife so that we could go forth and identify and remove the plants when we see them. This event was at the end of April, so it was the perfect way to get outside, shake off some of the stress that comes with the end of the semester, and connect with nature.

What is an animal law related goal of yours for the upcoming academic year?
Last year during a lunch and learn ALDF hosted a speaker from the Georgia Audubon Society who discussed issues facing migratory birds traveling through urban areas. One such issue is the hundreds of millions of birds that die in the United States every year by flying into windows. He discussed studies that found that putting stickers on the outside of the glass can reduce the number of casualties by up to 47%. These statistics especially hit home for the GSU ALDF chapter because the Georgia State College of Law building is an all-glass high rise in the heart of Atlanta, and we find birds that had collided with the building lying on the sidewalk. One of the ALDF board’s goals for the upcoming academic year is to petition the school to allow the chapter to put up the bird protection stickers, and then to apply for grants to receive the funding for this project. The current ALDF board is made up entirely of rising 3Ls, and we hope the bird protection stickers will be our lasting impact at the Georgia State College of Law.

What are your goals for post-graduation?
Following graduation, I intend to devote my career to animal law and protection, and I hope to do this by working in farmed animal litigation. I am drawn to litigation because I like how this provides attorneys the opportunity to both hold corporations or individuals accountable for their abusive, exploitative, and detrimental actions while at the same time bringing awareness to the public about the conditions that animals face in our current food system. I also aim to act as a mentor towards future ALDF chapters and law students interested in pursuing animal law.

What is one piece of advice that you would like to pass on to other Animal Legal Defense Fund student chapter leaders?
I cannot recommend attending animal law conferences enough. Conferences are such a great opportunity to expand your knowledge of animal law and stay up to date on current developments. Through conferences I also got to meet some amazing, inspiring, likeminded students who gave me great ideas of projects that I can work on with the ALDF chapter. Conferences are also a great way to meet and network with attorneys in the field. Georgia State does not have many opportunities in animal law, so for leaders in similarly situated schools, I think it is important to go out and make those opportunities for yourself, then you can bring the knowledge, experience, and relationships back to your ALDF chapter to help expand and improve your schools’ program.

Learn more about the other 2024 Advancement in Animal Law Scholarship winners.