Sophia Pastorini

As the Criminal Justice Program Fellow at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Sophia Pastorini works to improve the systemic handling of crimes against animals. Sophia graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science in Motion Pictures. She earned her law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, cum laude, with a concentration in environmental law.

While at Miami Law, Sophia reactivated the school’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, for which she served as president for two years. She was the first-place recipient of ALDF’s Advancement of Animal Law Scholarship (2023-2024). Sophia was also a finalist in the 2023 National Animal Law Competitions, Legislative Drafting & Lobbying. Her law review article “Neither Covered nor Excluded: Impacts of Speciesism on Aquatic Animal Experimentation under the Animal Welfare Act” was published in Volume 30.2 of the Animal Law Review.

Prior to joining ALDF, Sophia was a Post-Doctoral Research and Environmental Law Advocacy Fellow at the University of Miami School of Law, where she served as the primary attorney on the Environmental Justice Clinic’s work with the Miccosukee Tribe.

Sophia lives in Miami, Florida, with her partner and their rescue beagle, Lola, and rescue cat, Nina. She enjoys cooking, videography, yoga, traveling, and long nature walks.