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Person-Post: Deborah Rook – Fellow

21st August 2008

is a Principal Lecturer in Law at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. She qualified as a solicitor with Messrs Freshfields, solicitors in London in 1996, and subsequently returned to academia. In 2004, she created an option on the undergraduate law degree in the emerging subject of Animal Law. The current syllabus involves a critical analysis of the legal and moral status of animals; an in-depth examination of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and an analysis of the law and ethics relating to farm animals and animal experimentation. In 2007, she created the Animal Law Centre, which aims to promote the study of Animal Law in UK universities. The Centre works in association with the Association of Lawyers for Animal Welfare to encourage critical analysis of existing animal laws and academic debate about the scope and nature of future animal legislation in the UK. The Centre also provides an on-line resource for academics and students studying Animal Law in the UK. In 2008, the Centre hosted an Animal Law guest speaker programme, which included the Head of the Wildlife Crime Unit for the Metropolitan Police. Deborah’s publications in the area of Animal Law include an article on ‘The legality of factory farming’ in the Journal of Animal Welfare Law, Vol. 6, June 2007, which was followed by a conference paper on the subject delivered at the Society of Legal Scholars conference in September 2007. In addition to Animal Law, she also lectures in Property Law. Her books include: Rhona Smith, Lynne Murrell, and Debbie Rook, Conversion Course Companion for Law (Pearson, 2008), Property Law and Human Rights (Blackstone Press, 2001), Distress for Rent (Blackstone Press, 1999).