Law
In a forthcoming law review article entitled “The Birth of Animal Rights Law: The Role of Lawyers in the Animal Rights/Protection Movement from 1972-1987” Joyce Tischler, Esq., founder and president of Animal Legal Defense Fund, sets out to “explore the roots of a large scale, organized movement, which started in the early 1970s in the United States, spearheaded by attorneys and law students with the express purpose of filing lawsuits to protect animals and establish the concept of their legal rights, regardless of the species of the animals or the ownership interest of humans.”
In that article, Ms. Tischler graciously names as “the first animal rights lawyer” ISAR’s chairman and general counsel, Henry Mark Holzer, professor emeritus at Brooklyn Law School.
She credits Professor Holzer, then a practicing attorney professionally associated with ISAR, with three accomplishments crucial to establishing the field of what today is known as “animal rights law”: with ISAR, having brought the first federal and first state lawsuit to invoke the moral concept of “animal rights”; with ISAR, having founded the Animal Rights Law Reporter, which became “the legal clearinghouse for animal rights law information”; and, again with ISAR, having organized the “First National Conference on Animal Rights Law”—an undertaking, in Ms. Tischler’s words, “[t]he significance of which cannot be overstated.”
Professor Holzer had articulated his vision for using the law on behalf of animals in a 1972 speech entitled “Lobbying in the Courts.” He explained how “rights-oriented” groups such as the NAACP, ACLU, National Consumer League, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others, had often successfully used the courts to foster their agendas. He emphasized, for example, that “[i]f five members of the Supreme Court of the United States can be convinced [of a given principle], the Senate, House [of Representatives] and President can be circumvented. One can ‘lobby’ successfully,” Professor Holzer argued, “in court by [simply] convincing a few judges.”
During the ensuing years, Professor Holzer has provided legal information, analyses, and guidance to the animal rights movement, sometimes independently, often in conjunction with ISAR, and for the last decade as a trustee of Institute for Animal Rights Law.
Among other activities relating to animal rights, he drafted state and federal animal protection legislation, counseled animal rights/welfare organizations on legal topics, developed widely distributed reports on animal legal issues, presented seminars on animal rights/welfare subjects, filed amicus curiae (“friend-of-the-court’) legal briefs on behalf of animals, participated in animal rights/welfare symposia, advised public officials on legal issues affecting animals, helped educate the public about the legal rights of animals, contributed to the creation of animal rights literature, mentored law students interested in the animal rights field, and produced considerable writing on the subject of animal rights in general and the use of law to further them.
To implement Professor Holzer’s vision that the law can be used to foster, protect, and advance animal rights, under his direction ISAR is committed to four law-based programs. They are: Legislation, Litigation, Articles, and Monographs.
ISAR is actively engaged in drafting animal rights legislation and filing amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) briefs in important animal rights cases. We are pleased to make our work available to animal rights activists, upon request.
