Pioneering Animal Advocacy: Pakistan's First Animal Law Attorney

Hira Jaleel is Pakistan’s first accredited Animal Law attorney, who has fought a lion's share of legal battles around animal welfare and animal rights, helping to shape federal and provincial legislation around animals in Pakistan. She vividly recounts troubling issues around live animal markets and the exotic animal trade that needs government oversight in her native country. 

Now an Animal Law teaching fellow and adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark Law School’s Center for Animal Law Studies, Hira describes how cultural customs and views play into animal laws and rights globally. Listen along as she describes a burgeoning legal niche that could use more attorneys willing to fight for animals.

Chapters

• 1:53 Explanation of Animal Law and the other types of law it intersects.
• 5:20 Animal welfare vs. animal rights.
• 7:05 Current animal laws in Pakistan originated when it was a British colony.
• 9:27 Pakistan legislates widely in wildlife protection.
• 10:03 Hira’s path to a legal career.
• 14:34 Practicing Animal Law in Pakistan as a threshold practice.
• 18:02 Being the first attorney in her niche attracted clients to her work.
• 20:24 How cultural customs and views play into animal laws and rights globally.
• 24:02 Pakistan’s laws around imports/exports of exotic animals.
• 27:46 Hira’s practice as a petitioner in Pakistan and teaching Animal Law there.
• 29:37 Lewis & Clark Law School’s Center for Animal Law Studies.
• 33:37 Hira’s proudest legal moments.