The Law, Ethics & Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School is a multidisciplinary think-and-do tank dedicated to: (1) drawing the attention of leading thinkers and doers to the deep questions of conscience and law that human-animal relationships and industrialized animal cruelty raise; and (2) empowering Yale University scholars and students to produce positive legal and political change for animals, people, and the environment upon which they depend.
LEAP leads and coordinates a diverse program of activities that serve students and scholars at Yale, and that contribute to defining, expanding, and advancing the field of animal law. LEAP’s programming includes: academic and experiential animal law courses; the Climate, Animal, Food, and Environmental Law & Policy Lab (“CAFE Lab”) — the first of its kind in the nation — where students work with experts to develop new legal and political strategies to address the multiple externalized costs of industrial animal agriculture; a Student Fellows program and active support for student research projects and publications; regular lectures, panels, and speaker events that bring leading thinkers — including lawmakers, scholars, artists, scientists, advocates, and journalists — to Yale’s campus to inspire, enrich, and inform the Program’s work; and the “When We Talk About Animals” podcast series. The Program’s work is highly interdisciplinary and we often partner with schools, departments, and other centers and programs across Yale University and beyond.