Justin Marceau

Justin Marceau is the Brooks Institute Endowed Chair and Professor of Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he directs the Animal Law Program and the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project. His teaching and scholarship center on criminal law, constitutional law, and animal law, with a particular focus on how the criminal legal system is used—and misused—in regulating animal protection, protest, and social movements.

A leading litigator and scholar, Marceau has actively litigated a range of cases and appeals, including playing a key role in constitutional challenges to “ag-gag” laws across the United States. His broader litigation and research examine the intersection of free speech, criminal punishment, and animal advocacy.

Marceau’s scholarship has appeared in leading law reviews and in books including Beyond Cages: Animal Law and Criminal Punishment (Cambridge University Press 2019) and Empirical Animal Law (forthcoming). Before joining the Denver Law faculty, he clerked for the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and practiced civil rights and habeas corpus law. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. from Boston College.