Animal Law Workshop

The Animal Law Workshop (ALW) was launched in 2019 as an educational, research, and analytical initiative that brings together students, professionals, and experts in law and related fields who share a commitment to improving the welfare of animals — particularly through legal and ethical perspectives. We currently have a temporary website and aim to launch a more comprehensive one by the end of 2027. The new website will feature a variety of webinar series, podcasts, a blog, and an extensive educational section.

The ALW began as a university lecture course, combining group and individual student projects, and an annual Animal Law yearbook. Since March 2022, the ALW has grown into an independent volunteer-based initiative, operating entirely without external funding in order to preserve its full independence.

Our main goal is to advance knowledge in the field of animal law and ethics and to keep the global conversation alive — inter alia, by sharing expertise, tracking and analyzing new research, legal developments, and policy trends, disseminating best practices, and building connections among experts, students, and advocates across countries and disciplines.

Since 2022, we have been hosting annual online international conferences on animal law and ethics, “Animal Law: From Ethics to Law,” bringing together speakers and participants from across the world — from Canada, the USA, and Argentina to Europe (including post-Soviet countries), South Africa, India, and beyond. Each year, the number of participants continues to grow by ~70-100%, along with the diversity of voices represented. Since 2024, the conference has been fully bilingual, with all sessions interpreted simultaneously. We are currently migrating our old conference website to a new platform, with the transfer expected to be completed by July 2026. In the meantime, you may also find it useful to take a look at the current call for the 2025 conference. Recordings of the conferences are available on our YouTube channel prior to the next conference.

The bilingual (English–Russian) Animal Law yearbook continues to be published, with every contribution presented in both languages — paper abstracts up to 2023, and full paper translations since 2024. The 2024 issue will be published by November 20, 2025.

Our initiative is active on major social media platforms popular with our audience — Facebook, LinkedIn, Telegram, VKontakte, and YouTube — with the first two currently being prepared for regular updates, and the latter three already updated on a regular basis.

Our educational course has developed into 2 free online 12-week courses on animal ethics and animal law, and we are in the process of developing a broader range of open-access educational materials — including short video series, full-length webinars, podcasts, a collection of presentations, textbooks, an analytical blog, and a news section on our new website.

All of this is made possible thanks to the dedication and generosity of our volunteers — smultaneous interpreters, journal editors, SMM managers, speakers, and coordinators — who keep the initiative alive and growing across languages and borders.