Spotlight: Lla Anderson

Lla Anderson 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.

Lla is a 2L at Harvard Law School and a second-year graduate student at Harvard Divinity School. As a law student, Lla has served as a 1L Section Representative and Campus Advocacy Co-Chair for the Harvard Animal Law Society, and will serve as its president for the upcoming academic year.

What Animal Legal Defense Fund student chapter activities are you proudest of and why?
I am proudest of our Animal Law Week, which our chapter co-hosts with the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program. Every spring, the Harvard Animal Law Society and ALPP host Animal Law Week where we invite lawyers, advocates, activists, and educators who are doing excellent work in the field to present on a variety of topics including labor rights for factory-farm workers; the commodification and exploitation of reproductive systems for women and factory-farmed cows; careers in animal law; the Endangered Species Act; etc. This year, we invited Christopher “Soul” Eubanks, a phenomenal activist based in Atlanta, Georgia who gave a compelling lecture on veganism, speciesism, and collective liberation. Mr. Eubanks’s presentation drew a significant amount of students who were unaware of the intersections between animal rights, veganism, and social justice. Resultantly, individuals who were unaccustomed to thinking about the relationality between animal rights and social justice were introduced to concepts that will, without a doubt, alter the way that they view and engage with these topics; seeing that was immensely gratifying.

A few other activities that I am proud of is a screening of Jamie Berger’s documentary “Smell of Money” with other animal, environmental, and food rights organizations at universities in the Boston-area; starting a community cupboard that emphasized plant-based foods; and collaborating with Student Government and Dining Services for “Plant Positive Tuesdays” where plant-based meals are spotlighted in the cafeteria weekly. All of these activities demonstrate the power of advocacy and education, and the ways in which both can lead to enacting significant institutional change.

Any other noteworthy experience?
Another noteworthy experience was encouraging student organizations to sign our “VegPledge” which serves as a commitment to expanding plant-based options at various organizational events and meetings. Last year, we had a number of organizations commit to decreasing their purchases of animal-based products including Queer Trans People of Color where nearly 100% of the food purchased by the organization was plant-based.

What is an animal law related goal of yours for the upcoming academic year?
This year, I would like to learn about the intersections between animal law, environmental law, and food law, and how strategies or approaches from the latter three could be applied to animal law as it pertains to pursuing justice for factory-farmed animals.

What are your plans/goals for post-graduation?
After graduation, I plan to be involved as a mentor and resource for my student chapter through connecting students with alumni working in the field; sharing resources; offering advice about internships and careers in animal law; etc. Additionally, I plan to start a non-profit specializing in factory-farm liability, as well as venturing into academia where I am interested in starting an animal law program at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU).

What is one piece of advice that you would like to pass on to other Animal Legal Defense Fund student chapter leaders?
It is important to forge connections with other organizations, especially affinity groups, so that animal law is a field that is representative of different racial, social, and economic backgrounds and worldviews. Many of our peers will be judges one day—judges who we hope will be amenable to our arguments. That amenability, however, can only come through collaboration which necessitates seeking to understand as opposed to seeking to be understood.

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