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Michael Swistara, JD

26th June 2023

is an animal protection lawyer, advocate, and independent scholar. Michael is a Staff Attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, where he develops and litigates cases that improve the lives and status of nonhuman animals. He currently serves as the Newsletter Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s International Animal Law Committee, Young Lawyer Chair of the Animal Law Committee, and Co-Chair of the Animals in Agriculture Subcommittee. Michael was previously an Emerging Scholars Fellow at the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy. His academic work focuses on the intersection of animal law with other areas of social justice, as well as on environmental justice, animals in the media, and food system change. Michael’s work has been published in numerous academic journals, including the Animal Law Review, the University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, and the Animal Studies Journal. He has spoken at conferences across North America on issues of animal protection and the law, including at the Canadian Animal Law Conference, McGill’s Animal & Environmental Law Student Conference, and the Vermont Law School’s Animals and Restorative Justice Symposium.