The Uses of Sentience in Legal Advocacy

Animal law advocates use science to help judges, legislators, and others understand the need to protect animals. Recently, sentience has been widely used in these legal strategies. This session will consider the legal uses of sentience assertions and ask, what is it – what does it mean – how can it be used? Dr. Lori Marino, a leading scientist in the field, will lead the discussion with our experienced panelists – Elizabeth Stein, Mike Radford, and Marty McKendry. They will share what this work can look like in different advocacy contexts. They will examine the lessons we can learn from past efforts to use sentience within legal frameworks and consider how best to use it in the future.